THE 


AND  THE 


nsnrance  ipioinpames, 


AN    EXHIHIT   OF  THE 


CAPITAL,  ASSETS,  AND  LOSSES 


OF   THE    COMPANIES,  TOOETHEK    WITH 


/  <//////>  Account  #/  the  (fireat  jjji 


NEW  YORK  AND  CHICAGO: 

J.    H.    AND   C.    M.   GOODSELL, 

l'i  nr.TMiKi;-;  DI    THK  Si-i-.c  PATOK. 
TH«  SPKCTATOR  Piuira,  .i-rly  St.,  N.  Y. 


THE  CHICAGO  FIRE 


FIRE  INSURANCE  COMPANIES. 

AN  EXII I DIT  OK  THE 

CAPITAL,  ASSETS,  AND  IOSSES  OF  THE  COMPANIES, 


TOGETHER   WITH 


A  Graphic  Account  of  the  Great  Disaster, 


ACCOMPANIED    BY 


7 

MAPS  OF  CHICAGO  SHOWING  THE  BURNED  DISTRICT. 


NEW  YORK  AND  CHICAGO: 

J.H.  and  C.  M.  GOODSELL, 

PUBLISHERS  OK  THE  SPECTATOR. 
1871. 


Entered,   according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1871,  by 

J.  H.  AND  C.  M.  GOODSELL, 
in  the  office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  Washington. 


WITHDRAWN 


THE    INSURANCE    COMPANIES   AND    THE 
CHICAGO   FIRE. 


OUR  FIRE  INSURANCE  SYSTEM. 

THE  tremendous  losses,  resulting  from  the  Chicago  fire,  sus- 
tained by  the  insurance  interest  of  the  country,  and  the  prompt 
settlement  of  those  losses  so  far  as  the  companies  have  been 
able  to  meet  their  liabilities,  while  they  bear  testimony  to  the 
beneficent  mission  and  great  usefulness  of  this  interest,  must 
necessarily  lead  to  greater  caution  and  conservatism  in  its  future 
management. 

It  is  a  mere  truism  to  say,  that  the  benefits  of  both  fire  and 
life  insurance  should  be  more  widely  distributed.  But  in  order 
to  accomplish  this,  it  will  be  necessary  to  proceed  upon  a  basis 
which  shall  attract  capital  to  the  business  of  insurance,  and  ren- 
der it  profitable  to  the  insurer  as  well  as  the  insured.  It  is  use- 
less to  expect  that  capital  will  flow  into  this  channel  from  mere 
considerations  of  public  utility  and  general  benevolence.  The 
men  who  own  or  represent  capital  are  noted  for  their  caution, 
and  do  not  embark  their  merans  in  extra  hazardous  enterprises, 
unless  their  profits  are  commensurate  with  their  risks. 

Though  cheap  insurance  is  certainly  a  desideratum  for  the 
general  welfare,  there  is  such  a  thing  as  making  it  too  cheap  for 
the  safety  and  advantage  of  all  concerned.  This  is  just  what 
has  been  done  for  the  last  few  years,  during  which  we  have  had 
the  maximum  of  risks  with  minimum  of  rates ;  and  the  result 
has  been,  (as  the  history  and  statistics  of  fire  insurance  since  the 
war  will  show),  that  the  business  has  become  unremunerative, 
and  has  been  gradually  transferred  from  the  strong  companies, 
which  had  nothing  to  gain  and  everything  to  lose,  to  the  weak 
ones,  which  had  everything  to  gain  and  but  little  to  lose. 

While  the  former   have   been    steadily  curtailing  their  risks, 


4  The  Insurance   Companies 

and  limiting  their  operations  to  the  best  property  of  their  own 
immediate  surroundings,  the  latter,  through  their  agents,  have 
been  scattering  their  policies  broadcast  throughout  the  country, 
without  proper  discrimination  as  to  the  character  of  their  risks. 
Many  of  these  expanded  companies,  with  small  capital  and  no 
surplus,  have  been  swept  away  by  this  great  calamity,  while  the 
solid  ones,  which  refused  to  enter  into  cheap  competition  with 
them,  for  the  most  part  stand  firm  as  a  rock. 

The  dear-bought  experience  of  hundreds  of  ruined  policy- 
holders,  upon  this  occasion,  will  probably  teach  them  that  "  the 
cheapest  is  not  always  the  best,"  and  that  our  fire  insurance 
system,  in  order  to  be  efficient,  and  to  practically  afford  that 
protection  to  the  community  which  it  professes  to  guaranty, 
must  be  established  on  a  sound  and  strong  foundation.  Prop- 
ertyholders  cannot  expect  such  sure  protection  unless  they  are 
willing  to  pay  a  fair  price  for  it ;  and  by  encouraging  that  cheap 
competition  among  insurance  agents  which  is  manifestly  incom- 
patible with  a  safe  and  legitimate  business,  they  only  repel  and 
restrict  the  sphere  of  those  conservative  and  prudent  institutions, 
which  alone  are  trustworthy,  and  capable  of  performing  what 
they  promise  in  such  emergencies  as  the  present. 


THE  DUTY  OF  THE  HOUR. 

WHATEVER  other  effects  rnay  follow  the  recent  disaster  at  Chi- 
cago, there  is  one  result  which  MUST  come  from  this  calamity, 
as  matter  of  vital  necessity  both  for  the  agents  and  for  th'c  com- 
panies they  represent.  The  rates  of  premium  must  be  advanced 
at  once  to  a  paying  point,  and  by  means  of  concerted  action  GJI 
the  part  of  all  agents  everywhere.  We  doubt  not  the  agents' 
recognition  of  this  necessity,  nor  their  disposition  to  meet  it ; 
but  action,  not  theory,  is  what  is  wanted,  and  they  should  not 
lose  a  moment  in  profiting,  by  the  public  engrossment  with 
insurance  matters,  to  organize  themselves  in  a  solid  phalanx 
against  a  relapse  of  insurance  interests  into  the  old  channels  of 
ruinous  competition. 

Widespread  as  is  this  disaster,  and  seriously  as  it  has  crippled 
a  number  of  companies,  it  is  a  subject  of  pride  that  in  the  great 


And  the  Chicago  Fire.  5 

majority  of  cases  losses  will  be  promptly  settled.  And  when 
the  facts  and  figures  are  finally  spread  out  in  authentic  form,  we 
may  expect  a  reaction  in  favor  of  insurance  and  its  promoters 
such  as  will  astonish  even  its  most  ardent  friends.  Few  compa- 
nies have  failed  as  regards  their  policyholders,  and  those  which 
have  suffered  heavy  loss  will  reorganize  at  once,  with  less 
financial  capital,  perhaps,  but  with  a  reserve  of  moral  capital 
and  honorable  prestige  which  will  make  their  policies  worth 
more  than  ever  before. 

It  is  the  duty  of  agents  as  men  who,  in  prosperous  times,  have 
reaped  the  largest  share  of  the  harvest,  to  come  promptly  to  the 
help  of  the  companies  at  this  juncture,  and  this  they  can  do  by 
immediately  taking  steps  to  make  the  public  realize  the  value  of 
insurance,  and  the  difference  between  sound  and  cheap  policies. 
Already,  in  many  cities  and  towns  the  rates  have  been  advanced 
to  an  adequate  standard. 

Rates  should  be  immediately  doubled  everywhere  in  the 
United  States. 


THE  GOLDEN  OPPORTUNITY. 

NEVER,  was  there  a  better  opportunity  for  earnest  agents  and 
sound  companies  to  push  their  fortunes.  By  striking  while  the 
iron  is  hot,  while  the  ruins  still  smoke,  a  live  company  may 
accomplish  in  the  next  six  months  more  than  it  could  in  ten 
years,  under  ordinary  circumstances. 

Active  agents,  energetic  officers,  solvent  companies,  will  now 
come  to  the  front  and  carry  all  before  them. 

The  public  is  alive  to  the  value  of  insurance  policies  which 
mean  indemnity,  and  will  not  higgle  about  rates  in  the  light  of 
the  Chicago  fire  and  its  crushing  testimony  against  cheap  and 
worthless  policies. 

Now  is  your  chance  to  enter  in  and  possess  the  land,  gentle- 
men, officers  and  agents !  The  people  are  running  to  meet  you 
more  than  halfway.  They  are  anxious  for  once  to  pay  full  cost 
for  insurance,  if  it  only  be  insurance.  Let  none  of  you  stand 
back,  while  a  few  live  men  rush  in  and  gather  a  harvest  in 
which  you  should  have  a  share.  Advertise,  circulate  your  docu- 
ments, let  your  rivalry  be  only  that  of  getting  the  best  risks  at 


6  The  Insurance   Companies 

the  highest  rates,  and  thus  present  the  insurance  companies  of 
the  country  as  a  spectacle  of  bounding  elasticity  and  vitality. 

Great  as  have  been  the  losses  at  Chicago,  there  is  not  a  com- 
pany whose  assets  justify  continuance  in  business,  but  can  turn 
this  seeming  disaster  into  a  positive  and  permanent  benefit. 
The  prestige  of  a  company  passing  through  this  fiery  trial, 
without  succumbing,  will  be  (or  should  be  made)  equal,  in 
moral  power,  to  a  doubling  of  its  cash  capital.  See  to  it  that 
this  shall  be  the  result  to  your  own  company ! 


A  CORRESPONDENT  writing  from  Hartford  discusses  as  follows  the 
altered  condition  of  fire  insurance  and  fire  insurance  rates :  This 
disaster  will  also  bring  its  lesson,  for,  good  and  unpalatable  as  it  may  be, 
nevertheless  it  will  be  one  notonly  for  the  benefit,  immediate  and  direct,  of 
the  insurance  companies  themselves,  but  also,  indirectly  and  eventually, 
of  the  people  at  large.  It  will  learn  us  to  put  underwriting  on  a  more 
lasting  and  enduring  foundation,  to  set  aside  the  petty  jealousies  and 
private  rivalries  which  have  hitherto  existed  much  to  the  detriment  of 
the  business,  and  while  there  will  be,  as  there  must,  a  general  competi- 
tion, yet  it  will  be  based  upon  system,  founded  in  principle,  and  tend  in 
no  way  to  lead  insurance  interests  into  the  paths  of  recklessness  and 
ruin.  As  a  matter  of  course  this  fire  will  affect  the  subject  of  insurance 
rates,  and  they  will  no  doubt  be  advanced.  The  low  rate  system  which 
some  of  our  smaller  companies  have  followed  has  proved  disastrous, 
and  the  experiment  will  not  probably  be  tried  again.  And  this  we  do 
not  regret.  A  man  is  always  willing  to  pay  a  good  price  for  a  good 
article;  and,  if  in  future  policyholders  are  charged  a  larger  amount  for 
their  insurance,  they  will  not  be  disposed  to  grumble  at  the  advance  if 
they  know  the  concern  in  which  they  place  their  risks  is  pursuing  a 
course  which  is  not  experimental  and  adventurous,  but  which  on  the 
contrary  is  founded  in  security  and  safety,  and  is  dictated  by  all  the 
reasons  which  human  precaution  and  foresight  can  invent  to  guarantee 
prosperity  and  success. 


ONE  of  the  newspaper  reporters,  describing  the  great  fire,  says : 
'•  Huge  blocks  of  stone  were  crumbled  to  dust.  The  foundations  disap- 
peared almost  to  the  bottom  stone.  The  walls  were  licked  up  as  though 
of  pasteboard,  and  the  huge  beams  of  iron  were  warped  and  disappeare<| 
like  straw.  The  vaunted  fire-proof  structures  offered  also  as  little 
resistance  as  the  humblest  shanty  and  went  in  the  common  ruin."  It 
may  be  that  this  statement  requires  to  be  accepted  with  considerable 
allowance.  But  the  fact  remains,  proven  incontestibly  for  the  first  time, 


And  the    Chicago   Fire.  7 

that  a  conflagration  may  rise  to  that  degree  of  intensity  which  will 
seriously  endanger  the  most  massive  structures  that  man  is  capable  of 
building.  Just  as  the  eternal  rocks  are  swept  away  by  fierce  volcanic 
eruptions.  Yet  AVC  should  not  depreciate  the  value  of  the  so-called 
"fire-proof"  methods  of  building.  A  fire-proof  building  is  at  worst  a 
barrier  to  the  extension  of  fire.  It  checks  a  conflagration  by  staying  the 
progress  of  flame,  and,  if  there  be  only  a  sufficient  number  of  these 
barriers,  the  duration  of  the  fire  cannot  be  long.  Who  can  doubt,  for  a 
moment,  that  the  northern  division  of  Chicago  would  have  been  entirely 
unharmed  if  in  that  ill-fated  business  district  in  the  south  side  there  had 
been  a  hundred  "  fire-proof"  buildings,  instead  merely  of  two  or 
three  ? 


THE  three  great  conflagrations  of  modern  history  have  been  the  great 
London  fire  of  1666,  burning  of  Moscow,  and  burning  of  Chicago.  It 
is  remarkable  that  the  magnitude  of  these  conflagrations  was  not  very 
far  from  equal  in  the  number  of  buildings  destroyed.  The  fire  in 
London  consumed  13,200  houses.  The  Moscow  conflagration  consumed 
11,400  houses.  The  conflagration  in  Chicago  consumed  not  far  from 
15,000  houses.  The  Chicago  conflagration  was- much  more  extensive 
than  either  of  its  prototypes  in  the  extent  of  territory  devastated.  The 
burnt  district  includes  nearly  four  square  miles;  that  of  London  less 
than  one  square  mile;  that  of  Moscow  considerably  more.  In  the 
destruction  of  property,  also,  the  Chicago  conflagration  has  taken  the 
first  place  in  history,  the  loss  amounting  in  round  numbers  to 
$150,000,000.  In  the  rapidity  of  the  conflagration,  the  Chicago  fire  is 
without  a  parallel.  It  required  sixteen  days  to  burn  a  square  mile  of 
London,  and  several  days  and  nights  to  burn  a  somewhat  greater  area 
in  Moscow.  Twenty  hours  sufficed  to  consume  four  square  miles  of 
Chicago,  a  rate  of  combustion  averaging  a  square  mile  every  five  hours. 


THE  pluck  exhibited  by  almost  all  the  companies,  with  reference  to  the 
great  fire,  has  been  something  which  falls  little  short  of  being  sublime. 
It  is  not  every  man  who,  suddenly  cut  down  from  wealth  to  poverty, 
will  instantly  resume  active  operations  and  push  forward  with  even 
greater  energy  than  before.  But  here  are. many  companies  which  have 
lost  money  by  the  million,  we  might  almost  say,  rising  out  of  the  ruins, 
and  as  eager  for  the  fray  as  ever.  It  would  be  invidious  to  mention 
names,  even  were  it  worth  while,  in  illustration  of  the  wonderful 
elasticity  and  vital  force  of  the  companies  in  this  severe  ordeal.  The 
country  has  reason  to  rejoice  that  its  underwriters  are  of  the  «nyielding 
sort,  and  that,  both  in  spirit  and  in  act,  they  stretch  out  the  helping 
hand  towards  Chicago,  although  it  may  seem  like  the  dividing  up  of 
their  last  crust. 


8  The   Insurance    Companies 

The  Hartford  Courant  says,  that  when  New  York  suffered  under  the 
great  fire  of  1835,  the  Hartford,  ^Etna  and  Protection  fire  insurance 
companies  were  weak,  in  comparison  with  the  great  corporations  of  these 
days.  At  the  first  word  they  went  to  the  front  and,  with  the  personal 
credit  of  their  directors  backing  them,  paid  promptly  every  dollar. 
James  G.  Bolles  was  secretary  of  the  Hartford  in  those  days.  The  stock 
was  only  partially  paid  in.  The  directors  pledged  their  own  means  for 
the  remainder,  and  sent  Mr.  Bolles  to  New  York  to  open  an  agency  near 
the  fire.  There  he  settled  the  claims  as  fast  as  possible  and  gave  out 
that  he  was  still  ready  to  insure.  All  the  New  York  insurance  compa- 
nies but  one  had  failed.  Before  all  the  claims  had  matured,  Mr.  Bolles 
had  received  enough  in  premiums  to  pay  them!  Mr.  Bolles  was  a  man 
to  do  his  duty  if  it  bankrupted  him.  But  it  made  the  fortune  of  the 
company. 


IT  is  within  bounds  to  say  that  in  almost  every  large  town  in  the 
country  insurance  rates  are,  to-day,  not  more  than  half  what  they  should 
be.  In  all  the  cities,  this  is  absolutely  the  fact,  without  qualifications. 
The  volume  of  average  loss  makes  up  the  main  element  in  the  cost  of 
insurance;  and,  now  that  the  companies  are  called  upon  to  pay  forty  or 
fifty  millions  on  account  of  Chicago,  it  is  obvious  that  the  cost  of  insur- 
ing has  increased  by  just  the  ratio  thus  added  to  the  loss  ratio  of  former 
years.  If  the  $3,500,000  paid  to  Portland  justified  doubling  the  rates  in 
1866,  what  shall  be  said  now  when  rates  have  again  touched  bottom  and 
the  cost  of  insurance  has  actually  been  quadrupled?  The  simple  test 
will  be  to  add  the  cost  of  the  Chicago  fire  to  the  average  cost  of  insur- 
ance for  twenty  years  past,  and  then  tell  us  what  the  rates  ought  to  be? 


AND  now  from  all  parts  of  the  country  comes  the  gratifying  intelli- 
gence that  an  universal  advance  in  fire  insurance  rates  has  followed  the 
Chicago  disaster.  The  companies  which  will  be  able  to  continue  busi- 
ness are  none  too  many,  and  are  none  to  strong  to  satisfy  the  require- 
ments of  the  business  public  without  this  advance  in  rates. 


THE    GREAT    FIRE. 


A     COMPREHENSIVE     ACCOUNT     OF     THE     CON- 
FLAGRATION. 

IT  was  at  9.45  o'clock  on  Sunday  night,  October  S,  when  the  bell  sounded 
the  alarm  from  box  342,  for  a  fire  which  proved  to  be  the  most  disastrous 
in  the  world's  history.  Flames  were  discovered  in  a  small  stable  in  the 
rear  of  a  house  on  the  corner  of  De  Koven  and  Jefferson  streets. 

Hardly  had  the  first  alarm  sounded  when  it  was  followed  by  another 
from  the  same  box,  and  this  in  turn  by  a  third,  or  general  alarm,  which 
summoned  to  that  vicinity  every  available  steam  engine  in  the  city. 

THE  WIND 

was  blowing  a  perfect  gale  from  the  south-southwest.  With  terrible 
effect  the  flames  leaped  around  in  mad  delight,  and  seized  upon  every- 
thing combustible.  Shed  after  shed  went  down,  and  dwelling  houses 
followed  in  rapid  succession.  Block  after  block  gave  way,  and  family 
after  family  were  driven  from  their  homes.  The  fire  department  were 
powerless  to  prevent  the  spreading  of  the  calamity. 

At  first  it  was  one  structure  on  fire;  then  another  and  another  were 
swallowed  up  in  a  whirlpool  of  flames,  until  finally  it  was  blocks  and 
blocks  of  buildings  which  were  going  down,  like  grass  before  the 
scythe.  For  upward  of  fifteen  weeks  there  had  been  no  heavy 
rains,  and  the  wooden  walls  were  dry  like  unto  tinder  in  that  portion 
of  the  doomed  city.  In  vain  the  firemen  fiercely  fought  the- 
approach  of  the  conflagration.  In  vain  were  fences  and  small  houses 
hurled  to  the  ground.  In  vain  did  the  vast  crowd  rush  hither  and  thither 
trying  to  save  the  entire  west  side.  Onward  stalked  the  fiery  flame  and 
red-hot  air  which  caused  all  to  flee  from  before  its  scorching  blasts. 

With  the  heat  increased  the  wind,  which  came-  howling  across  the 
prairie,  until  at  last  there  arose  a  perfect  hurricane.  Mighty  flakes  of 
fire,  hot  cinders,  black,  stifling  smoke,  were  driven  fiercely  at  the  people, 
and  amid  the  terrible  excitement  hundreds  of  them  had  their  very  clothes 
burned  off  their  backs,  as  they  stood  there  watching  with  tearful  eyes  the 
going  down  of  so  many  houses. 

When  the  flames  had  crossed  over  to  Clinton  street,  between  Ewing 
and  Forquar  streets,  there  were  left  probably  half-a-dozen  houses  which 


lo  The  Insurance    Companies 

seemed  lo  have  been  forgotten  in  the  excitement  of  the  moment.  But 
they  were  not  permitted  to  escape  the  awful  flames.  Backward  swept 
the  red  demon,  silently  and  softly,  but  swift  enough  to  elude  all  pursuit, 
and  before  the  terror-stricken  multitude  could  prevent,  all  these  frame 
buildings  were  burned  to  the  ground. 

The  wind  continued  its  roaring  fierceness,  and  house  after  house  was 
burned.  To  the  left  the  fire  spread  forth  its  heat  like  the  leaves  of  a  fan 
until  all  of  the  eastern  side  of  Jefferson  street  was  enveloped  in  the  furnace. 
To  the  right  it  had  been  driven  with  great  fierceness,  and  Clinton  street 
and  Canal  street  and  Beach  street,  and  then  the  railroads  which  run 
along  the  western  shore  of  the  south  branch  were  in  its  grasp.  Now 
was  the  fire  at  its  fiercest.  Upward  of  20  blocks  were  burning.  Up- 
ward of  1,500  buildings,  including  outhouses,  were  on  fire.  Upward. of 
500  families  were  fleeing  from  the  seeming  wrath  to  come.  The  streets 
were  almost  impassable.  Carriages,  and  wagons,  and  drays  and  carts, 
and  all  sorts  of  vehicles  were  brought  into  requisition,  and  were  speedily 
loaded  with  household  goods.  Empty  wagons  were  filled  with  freight, 
and  where  there  were  no  beasts  of  burden  to  draw  the  load,  human 
hands  sprang  to  the  rescue  and  dragged  the  property  toward  the  north. 
Then  the  fire  reached  over  the  street,  and  while  that  terrible  south- 
western wind  howled  onward,  it  forced  its  way  into  the  planing  mills 
and  the  chair  factories,  and  all  the  other  shops  which  skirted  the  creek 
in  that  portion  of  west  Chicago.  Then  it  got  into  the  lumber  yards  and 
into  the  railroad  shops,  and  the  round  houses  were  soon  wrapped  ia  its 
dead  embrace.  The  bricks  themselves  seemed  only  additional  fuel. 
The  rolling  stock  in  the  railroad  yards  seemed  but  a  bit  of  kindling 
which  helped  along  a  fire  already  fiercely  intense. 

But  worst  of  all  the  elevators  were  next  in  danger.  For  a  few  moments 
it  seemed  as  though  one  or  two  of  the  largest  would  resist  the  flames 
.and  pass  through  the  fire  ordeal  unscathed.  But  this  thought  was  not 
of  long  duration,  for  an  instant  later  and  the  immense  piles  were  in 
flames  from  top  to  bottom. 

Like  the  advance  of  a  great  army  the  fire  moved  forward  in  several 
columns,  and  like  a  powerless  but  unconquered  foe  the  fire  department 
slowly  retreated.  But  th  ey  stubbornly  contested  every  foot  of  ground  and 
would  not  surrender,  although  often  almost  entirely  surrounded  by  the 
dread  enemy.  Then  they  would  cut  their  way  out  and  retreat  for  a 
short  distance,  only  to  turn  again  and  hurl  their  charges  of  thousands 
of  gallons  of  water  full  into  the  face  of  the  enemy.  But  no  power  on 
earth  could  stem  the  torrent.  Never  did  firemen  fight  more  fiercely  to 
conquer,  and  never  before  did  their  heroic  efforts  sejem  so  utterly  in 
vain. 

Suddenly  away  to  the  north  and  east,  fully  five  blocks  distant,  a  small 
flame  broke  forth  and  lighted  up  the  already  brilliant  heavens.  The 
sight  sent  an  awful  shudder  to  the  soul  of  every  man,  woman  and  child 
who  saw  it.  For  a  moment  every  one  was  spellbound  and  speechless. 


And  the   Chicago  Fire.  il 

Just  where  it  was,  the  newly  discovered  fire,  was  as  yet  unknown, 
but  it  seemed  to  be  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  South  Side  gas  works, 
and  there  was  no  one  in  all  that  vast  concourse  of  people,  but 
who  knew  the  great  danger  which  was  already  threatening  the  other 
side  of  the  river.  Every  moment  witnessed  an  increase  in  the  blaze, 
and  presently  the  outlines  of  the  immense  reservoir  told  the  story 
of  its  immediate  vicinity.  The  fire  marshal  at  once  sent  every  avail- 
able engine  to  the  south  side,  and  prepared  to  follow  with  the  remainder 
immediately.  But  the  flames  mounted  higher  and  the  fire  grew  fiercer, 
and  spread  itself  out  in  all  directions,  until  it  was  impossible  to  stay  itr 
1'tirther  progress. 

SOUTH    DIVISION. 

As  early  as  twelve  o'clock,  the  air  of  the  extreme  south  division  was 
hot  with  the  fierce  breath  of  the  conflagration.  The  gale  blew  savagely, 
and  upon  its  wings  were  borne  pelting  cinders,  black  driving  smoke, 
blazing  bits  of  timber,  and  glowing  coals.  These  swept  thickly 
over  the  river,  drifting  upon  house-tops  and  drying  the  wooden  build- 
ings along  the  southern  terminus  of  Market,  Franklin,  Adams, 
Monroe  and  Madison  streets  still  closer  to  the  combustion  point  for  which 
they  were  already  too  well  prepared. 

The  housetops  were  covered  with  anxious  workers,  and  cistern  streams, 
tubs  and  buckets  were  in  constant  use  to  subdue  the  flying  bits  of  fire 
(.hat  were  constantly  clinging  to  shingles  and  cornices. 

THE  FIRST  FOOTHOLD 

obtained  by  the  destroying  angel  in  the  south  division  was  in  the  tr.r 
works  adjacent  to  the  gas  works,  just  south  of  Adams  street,  and  nearly 
opposite  the  armory.  Almost  instantaneously  the  structure  was  one 
livid  sheet  of  flame,  emitting  a  dense  volume  of  thick  black  smoke  that 
curtained  this  portion  of  the  city  as  with  the  pall  of  doom.  Faster  than. 
a  man  could  walk,  the  flames  leaped  from  house  to  house  until  fifth 
avenue  (Wells  street)  was  reached.  A  steamer  or  two  were  sent  thither, 
but  their  previous  experiences  were  only  repeated,  and  no  perceptible 
check  was  given  to  the  onward  progress  of  the  flames.  From  the  gas 
works  to  the  point  it  had  now  reached,  nearly  the  entire  space  was  filled 
with  small  wooden  structures,  and  their  demolition  was  the  work  of  but 
a  few  minutes. 

THE  FIRST  GREAT  DANGER 

apprehended  from  the  ignition  of  the  tar  was  of  its  communication  to  the 
gas  works,  and  in  less  than  ten  minutes  the  entire  establishment  was  on 
fire,  the  immense  gasometer  being  completely  surrounded  by  a  wall  of 
flame.  The  danger  from  its  explosion  drove  the  crowds  away,  and  other 
scenes  of  equally  absorbing  interest  occupying  their  attention,  when  the 
explosion  came,  it  was  witnessed  by  comparatively  a  few  people,  and  was, 


12  The  Insurance    Companies 

it  is  believed,  unaccompanied  with  any  fatal  results.  The  grand  metre 
was  apparently  filled  to  about  half  its  capacity.  Its  destruction  did  not 
occur  until  some  three  hours  later. 

Apparently  but  a  few  minutes  subsequent  to  the  ignition  of  the  gas 
•works,  the  wooden  buildings  south  of  the  armory  were  found  to  be  on 
fire,  forming  the  apex  of  another  widening  track  of  desolation,  and  very 
soon  joining  with  the  other,  the  two  unitinglike  twin  demons  of  destruc- 
tion, the  armory  helping  to  glut  their  fiendish  cravings. 

It  may  be  of  interest  here  to  note  the  peculiarities  of  the  wind  cur- 
rents and  their  strange  effects.  During  all  this  time,  as  during 
the  entire  continuance  of  the  fire,  the  wind  was  blowing  a  gale 
from  a  southwesterly  direction;  and  above  the  tops  of  the  buildings  its 
course  from  midnight  until  4  or  5  o'clock,  varied  but  little,  not  veering 
more  than  one  or  two  points  of  the  compass.  To  the  observer  on  the 
street,  however,  traversing  the  main  thoroughfares  and  the  alleys,  the 
wind  would  seem  to  come  from  every  direction.  This  is  easily  explained. 
New  centres  of  intense  heat  were  being  continually  formed,  and  the  sud- 
den rarification  of  the  air  in  the  different  localities  and  its  consequent 
displacement  caused  continually  artificial  currents,  which  swept  around 
the  corners  and  through  the  alleys  in  every  direction,  often  with  the 
fury  of  a  tornado.  This  will  account  partly  for  the  rapid  widening  of 
the  tracks  of  devastation  from  their  apex  to  the  lake,  as  well  as  the 
phenomenon  of  the  fire  —  to  use  a  nautical  phrase, — "eating  into  the 
wind." 

THE  GRAND  PACIFIC  HOTEL, 

upon  which  the  roof  had  but  just  been  placed,  and  which,  like  the  still- 
born child,  was  created  only  for  the  grave,  was  among  the  first  of  the 
better  class  of  structures  assaulted  by  the  fire.  Angered  at  its  imposing 
front,  and  scorning  the  implied  durability  of  its  superb  dimensions,  the 
flames  stormed  relentlessly  in,  above,  and  around  it,  until,  assured  that 
it  was  at  their  absolute  mercy,  they  left  it  tottering  to  the  earth,  and 
crawled  luridly  along  the  street  in  search  of  further  prey.  It  was  now 
that  the  waves  of  fire  began  to  take  upon  themselves  the  mightiest  of 
proportions. 

How  it  was  that,  while  even  a  hundred  buildings  might  be  blazing, 
others,  far  in  advance  of  the  track  of  the  storm,  could  not  be  protected, 
has  not  been  understood  by  those  who  were  not  despairingly  following 
the  course  of  destruction.  It  was  partly  on  account  of  the  artificial 
currents  already  mentioned,  and  because  the  huge  tongues  of  flame 
actually  stretched  themselves  out  upon  the  pinions  of  the  wind,  for  acres. 
Sheets  of  fire  would  reach  over  entire  blocks,  wrapping  in  every 
building  inclosed  by  the  four  streets  bounding  them,  and  scarcely 
allowing  the  dwellers  in  the  houses  time  to  dash  away  unscorched. 
Hardly  twenty  minutes  had  elapsed  from  the  burning  of  the  Pacific 
hotel  before  the  fire  had  cut  its  hot  swath  through  every  one  of  the 


And  the   Chicago  J^irc.  13 

magnificent  buildings  intervening,  upon  La  Salle  street,  and  had  fallen 
mercilessly  upon  the  Chamber  of  Commerce. 

The  few  heroic  workers  of  the  police  and  fire  departments  who  had  not 
already  dropped  out  of  the  ranks  of  fighters  from  sheer  exhaustion, 
rought  to  once  more  check  the  progress  of  devastation  by  the  aid  of  pow- 
der. A  number  of  kegs  were  thrown  into  the  basement  of  the  grand 
business  palace  of  the  Merchants'  Insurance  company.  A  slow  match 
was  applied,  and  as  the  crowd  drew  back  the  explosion  ensued.  A 
broad,  black  chasm  was  opened  in  the  face  of  the  street,  but  with  as 
little  attention  to  the  space  intervening  as  though  it  had  only  been 
across  an  ordinary  alley,  the  arms  of  flame  swung  over  the  gap,  and 
tcre  lustily  at  the  rows  of  banking  houses  and  insurance  structures 
beyond. 

THE  COURT  HOUSE 

was  now  faced  with  a  swaying  front  of  fire  on  the  south  and  west  sides. 
But  as  the  building  was  in  the  centre  of  an  open  square,  and  solidly 
constructed,  it  was  taken  as  a  matter  of  course  that  it  would  be  able  to 
survive,  if  nothing  else  should  be  left  standing  around  it. 

"Talk  about  the  Court  House,"  said  a  leading  banker,  among  the 
spectators,  whose  own  establishment  had  already  been  melted  to  the 
very  foundations,  "  it  will  show  to  be  about  the  only  sound  building  on 
the  south  side  to-morrow." 

And  yet,  in  another  five  minutes,  a  great  burning  timber,  wrenched 
from  the  tumbling  ruins  of  a  La  Salle  street  edifice,  had  been  hurled  i:: 
wild  fury  at  the  wooden  dome  of  the  Court  House.  As  if  a  thousand 
.slaves  of  the  fire-king  had  hidden  within  the  fatal  structure,  awaiting 
this  signal,  the  flames  seemed  to  leap  to  simultaneous  life  in  every  part 
cf  the  building,  and  soon  the  hot,  scorched  walls  alone  remained. 

The  course  of  the  fire  was  now  directed  almost  due  cast  for  a  fcv.- 
minutes,  and  Ilooley's  opera  house,  The  Republican  office  and  I': : 
whole  of  Washington  street  to  Dearborn  was  consumed. 

CROSBY'S  OPERA  HOUSE 

came  r.cxt  ia  order.  Renovations  to  the  extent  of  $So,oco  had  just  been 
instituted  in  this  edifice,  and  the  place  was  to  have  been  re-dedicated 
that  same  night  by  the  Thomas  orchestra.  The  combustible  nature  cf 
the  building  caused  it  to  burn  with  astonishing  rapidity,  and  soon  it  J 
walls  surged  in,  carrying  with  them,  among  other  treasures,  the  con- 
tents of  three  mammoth  piano  houses  and  a  number  of  art  treasures, 
including  paintings  by  some  of  the  leading  masters  of  the  old  and  new 
worlds. 

The  St.  James  hotel  was  next  fired,  and  here,  at  the  corner  of  State 
and  Madison  etrcets,  the  two  savage  currentsoffircth.it  had  parted 
company  near  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  joined  hideous  issue  once 
inorc.  The  course  of  one  of  these  currents  has  been  indicated.  The 
other  had  swept  down  Franklin,  Wells  and  La  Salle  streets  to  the  main 


14.  The  Insurance   Companies 

banks  of  the  river,  swallowing  elevators,  banks,  trade  palaces,  the 
Briggs,  Sherman,  Tremont  and  other  large  hotels,  Wood's  museum, 
the  beautiful  structures  of  Lake  and  Randolph  streets,  and  the  entire 
surface  comprised  between  Market,  South  Water,  Washington  and 
State  streets. 

Many  lives  were  known  to  have  been  lost  up  to  this  time. 
But  in  the  infernal  furnace  into  which  Chicago  had  been  turned, 
it  was  impossible  to  conjecture  or  dare  to  imagine  how  many.  The 
heat,  more  intense  than  anything  that  had  ever  been  described  in 
the  annals  of  broadspread  conflagrations  of  the  past,  had  fairly 
crumbled  to  hot  dust  and  ashes  the  heaviest  of  building  stone.  Of 
•what  chance  was  there  then  of  ever  finding  the  remains  of  lost 
humanity  by  those  who  were  already  inquiring,  with  mad  anxiety,  for 
the  missing  ones?  But  all  thoughts  of  others  soon  began  to  vanish  in 
fears  for  the  safety  of  the  living.  The  stoutest  of  masonry  and  thickest 
of  iron  had  disappeared  like  wax  before  the  blast. 

Field  &  Leiter's  magnificent  store,  second  only  in  size  and  value  of 
contents  to  one  dry-goods  house  in  the  land,  was  already  in  flames. 
The  streets  were  now  crammed  with  vehicles  conveying  away  valuables, 
and  the  sidewalks  were  running  over  with  jostling  men  and  women, 
all  in  a  dazed,  wild  strife  for  the  salvation  of  self,  friends  and  property. 
The  thieving  horror  had  not  yet  broken  out,  and  up  to  this  time  there 
had  been  a  common,  noble  striving  to  aid  the  sufferers  and  stay  the 
inarch  of  the  furious  flames. 

Crackling  and  howling  demoniacally  at  the  ruin  and  misery  left 
behind,  eager  for  more  valuable  prey,  the  flames  sped  on,  taking  in  their 
course — the  track  continually  widening  from  the  causes  mentioned 
above — Farwell  hall  and  the  elegant  stone  structures  surrounding  it, 
and  all  the  newspaper  offices  except  that  of  The  Tribune,  leaving  noth- 
ing behind  but  the  grandest  ruins  the  world  ever  saw. 

The  block  bounded  by  Dearborn,  Washington,  State  and  Madison 
streets  was  some  little  time  in  burning.  Indeed,  after  the  corner  occu- 
pied by  the  Union  Trust  and  Savings  institution  had  burned,  it  was 
believed  that  the  large  vacant  lot  created  a  short  time  before  by 
the  tearing  down  of  the  old  Dearborn  school,  would  save  Mayo's  corner 
and  t^e  St.  Denis  hotel.  But  the  fire,  in  spite  of  the  terrible  strength  of 
the  wind  in  the  other  direction,  eventually  contrived  to  beat  up  against 
the  gale,  and,  by  devouring  the  stores  of  Gossage  and  others,  on  the 
•west  side  of  State,  and  the  book  houses  of  Griggs,  Keen  &  Cooke,  and 
the  Western  News  company,  on  the  east  side,  to  blister  the  St.  J)enis 
to  the  igniting  point,  and  then  McVicker's  theatre  and  The  Tribune 
building  formed  the  northern  boundary  of  the  south  division. 

It  was  here  that  the  few  workers  now  left  with  courage  enough  to  con- 
test with  miserable  fortune  made  their  final  stand.  The  Tribune  building 
was  believed  to  be  fire-proof  if  any  structure  devised  by  man  could  be 
proof  against  such  a  combination  of  the  elements  as  was  now  raging. 


And  the    Chicago  Fire.  15 

THE  POST-OFFICE 

had  yielded  to  the  assault  and  was  only  a  smouldering  ruin,  and  from 
away  down  to  the  devastated  depot  of  the  Illinois  Central  the  flames  had 
pushed  back  until  they  interlocked  once  more  at  the  custom-house  with 
the  fire  that  had  torn  its  way  from  the  Michigan  Central  depot.  Sur- 
rounded by 

THE  ENEMY  ON  EVERY  QUARTER, 

and  having  held  proudly  up  against  the  attack  till  long  after  daybreak, 
there  was  the  same  sad  capitulations  enacted  here  that  had  been  the 
story  of  the  entire  night.  McVicker's  yielded  first  and  was  instantly  a 
heap  of  brick  and  ashes,  and  The  Tribune  structure  was  not  long  in  fol- 
lowing, the  walls  of  this  latter  structure,  with  those  of  the  Custom  House, 
First  National  bank,  and  Court  House  proving  the  most  stubborn  evi- 
dences of  the  worth  of  the  architect's  skill  remaining  in  Chicago.  Up 
to  this  time,  the  elegant  and  costly  row  of  buildings  on  Dearborn  street 
north  of  the  Postoflfice  had  escaped.  They  included  the  two  Honore 
structures,  the  Bigelow  house,  which  was  $oon  to  have  been  opened, 
and  the  DeHaven  block,  the  latter  extending  from  Quincy  to  Jackson, 
street.  The  two  blocks  bounded  by  Monroe,  State,  Jackson  and  Dear^ 
born  streets,  that  resting  on  Jackson  street,  including  the  Palmer  house 
and  the  Academy  of  Design,  were  also  intact.  A  new  line  of  flame,  how- 
ever, had  been  formed  some  distance  to  the  southward  of  the  armory 
and  west  of  the  Michigan  Southern  depot,  and  was  sweeping  on  in  its 
mad,  resistless  career,  and  it  was  felt  that  the  above  mentioned  property 
was  in  the  greatest  peril. 

THE  DEPOT, 

a  noble  stone  structure,  upon  which  great  reliance  was  placed  for  the 
safety  of  the  adjacent  property  to  the  eastward,  made  but  a  feeble  resist- 
ance, and  soon,  with  a  large  number  of  passenger  cars  inside,  was  in 
ruins.  The  large  row  of  wooden  tenements  on  Griswold  street,  fronting 
the  depot  on  the  east,  succumbed  at  once,  presenting  a  wall  of  fire  of  the 
length  of  the  depot.  It  burned  rapidly  through  to  Third  avenue,  but  af 
that  point  the  wind,  which  had  begun  to  show  a  changeabieness  it  had 
not  previously  exhibited,  veered  to  a  point  considerably  east  of  south,  in 
which  quarter  it  remained  for  some  time.  Encouraged  by  this, 

A  DESPERATE  FIGHT. 

was  made  on  Third  avenue,  and  for  some  minutes,  minutes  that  seemed 
hours  in  the  torturing  alternations  of  hope  and  fear,  the  fiery  monster 
was  held  at  bay.  The  stone  yards  on  La  Salle  street  also  temporarily 
checked  the  progress  of  the  fire  south.  Thousands  of  people  occupying 
the  large  tract  from  Third  avenue  and  Dearborn  street  to  the  lake 
watched,  with  anxious  countenances  and  bated  breath,  the  result  of  the 
battle  that  was  to  decide  the  fate  of  their  homes.  The  wind  benignly 
continued  to  blow  from  the  same  quarter,  and  the  hopes  that  had  been 
raised,  slight  at  first,  grew  stronger,  It  was 


l6  The  Insurance   Companies 

AN  AWFUL  CRISIS. 

At  no  period  in  the  history  of  that  terrible  day  were  more  momentous 
interests  trembling  in  the  balance.  The  occupants  of  the  Michgan  av- 
enue palaces  and  the  humble  cottagers  were  there  side  by  side,  breath- 
ing supplications  and  agonizing  prayers  that  their  hearthstones  might 
be  spared. 

The  Christian  Brothers'  school,  at  the  corner  of  Van  Buren  street 
r.nd  Third  avenue,  a  massive  brick  structure,  was  soon  ignited,  but  its 
walls  proved  sound  and  strong,  and  the  interior  was  almost  entirely 
burned  before  they  fell.  New  hopes  were  born  of  this,  but  only  to  be 
succeeded  by  the  blankest  despair. 

And  the  suspense  was  not  for  long.  Making  a  clean  skip  over  the 
Dellaven  block,  a  shower  of  fire-brands,  hurled  thither  by  a  treacherous 
gust  of  wind,  alighted  on  the  roof  of  the  Bigelow  house,  and  that  mag- 
nificent building  was  soon  a  seething  furnace  of  flame,  quickly  followed 
by  the  two  Honore  buildings. 

The  one  nearest  the  Bigelow  hotel  was  unfinished,  but  was  rapidly 
approaching  completion,  and  as  a  model  of  architectural  beauty  wr.s 
hardly  rivaled  in  the  city. 

From  these  buildings,  as  if  maddened  at  their  slight  detention,  the 
flames  spread  to  the  standing  buildings  west  and  southwest  with  re- 
doubled fury,  enwrapping  the  block  containing  the  Palmer  house  and 
Academy  of  Design,  and  that  directly  north,  in  an  inconceivably  short 
time. 

The  Palmer  house  was  the  tallest  building  in  the  city,  eight  stories 
high,  three  of  which  were  in  its  mansard  roof,  and  the  scene  of  its 
demolition,  which  was  more  rapid  than  the  account  can  be  transmitted 
to  paper,  was  inexpressibly  grand.  The  march  of  the  devouring  element 
from  this  point  to  the  lake  was  uninterrupted,  the  intervening  buildings, 
including  many  of  the  finest  private  residences  in  the  city,  melting  away 
like  the  dry  stubble  of  the  prairie. 

For  some  time  after  the  ignition  of  the  Bigelow  house,  the  Dellaven 
block  stood  unscathed,  but  at  last,  it,  too,  was  forced  to  yield  to  the  in- 
evitable. It  was  a  long  three-story  building,  the  opposite  side  of  Dear- 
born street  being  occupied  by  a  row  of  small  wooden  tenements.  A 
stream  was  brought  to  bear  upon  these,  and  in  the  blistering  heat  three 
firemen,  heroes  every  one,  fully  conscious  of  the  tremendous  interests 
committed  to  them,  stood  manfully  at  their  posts.  They  did  their  work 
nob!y  and  successfully.  The  DeHaven  block  was  levelled  to  the  ground 
and  the  whole  row  of  wooden  buildings  had  been  perfectly  protected. 
From  a  thousand  parched  throats  the  thankful  ejaculation  went  up; 
''  We  are  saved  !"  Delusive  hope!  One  danger  was  averted  only  to  be 
succeeded  by  others  beyond  the  power  of  man  to  avert.  The  wind  again 
suddenly  turned  to  the  southwest  carrying  with  it  a  baptism  of  fire 
v/hich  made  it  apparent  that  the  whole  remaining  portion  of  the  city 
north  of  Harrison  street  was  doomed.  Churches,  palatial  residences, 


And  the   Chicago  Fire.  l^ 

everything  was  swept  by  the  besom  of  destruction,  an  irresistible  ava- 
lanche of  flame. 

In  concert  with  the  work  of  devastation  just  described,  from  the  track 
of  flame  several  blocks  below,  which  had  iong  before  cut  its  way  to  the 
lake,  as  if  executing  a  well-devised  military  manoeuvre,  the  fire  had  been 
steadily  eating  its  way  against  the  wind,  the  point  of  junction  being  at, 
or  near  Adams  street.  From  this  it  was  evident  that,  even  with  the  wind 
blowing  a  gale  from  the  south,  the  entire  south  division  was  in  danger. 
The  supply  of  water  had  long  before  failed,  except  from  the  basin. 

A  MORE  HEROIC  TREATMENT 

alone  could  save  what  remained  of  the  city.  It  was  at  once  and  unhesi- 
tatingly determined  upon,  and  then  commenced  the  first  systematic  and 
thorough  use  of  gunpowder  as  the  only  means  of  preventingthe  continu- 
ance of  the  work  of  ruin.  It  was  conducted  under  the  personal  super- 
vision of  Gen.  Sheridan.  Building  after  building  was  demolished,  the 
reports  of  the  successive  explosions  coming  at  intervals  of  a  very  few 
moments,  and  being  plainly  audible  above  the  continuous  din,  each 
discharge  announcing  that  at  last  the  battle  was  being  fought  and  won. 
The  great  fire  which  was  to  render  Chicago  forever  memorable  in  the 
annals  of  history  was  ended  in  the  south  division. 

THE  LAST  BUILDING  TO  BURN 

was  "  Terrace  row,"  a  palatial  block  of  private  residences  on  Michigan 
avenue,  extending  northward  from  Harrison  street.  Its  destruction  re- 
quired two  or  three  hours,  as  nothing  remained  in  its  rear  to  accelerate 
the  work.  About  eighteen  hours  from  the  first  discovery  of  the  fire  on 
De  Koven  street,  the  last  wall  of  "Terrace  row"  fell.  In  the  south 
division,  north  of  a  diagonal  line,  reaching  from  the  2ast  end  of  Harri- 
son street  to  Polk  street  bridge,  there  remained  two  buildings  unharmed, 
one  the  large  business  block  immediately  north  of  Randolph  street 
bridge,  and  the  other  an  unfinished  stone  structure  at  the  corner  of  Mon- 
roe and  La  Salle  streets.  The  entire  business  portion  of  the  city  was 
obliterated.  Two-thirds  of  the  territorial  area  of  the  city  was  unscathed, 
but  Chicago,  as  a  great  business  mart,  the  proud  commercial  centre  of 
the  growing  west,  was  no  more.  Was  ever  devastation  more  complete! 
Immense  as  is  the  burnt  area  in  the  south  division,  for  a  single  for- 
tunate circumstance  it  might,  and  probably  would,  have  been  doubled. 
Immediately  south  of  the  Michigan  Southern  passenger  depot  was  a 
long,  fire-proof  warehouse;  on  the  side  fronting  the  fire,  there  were  but 
two  windows,  which  afforded  the  only  possible  opportunity  for  the  fire 
fiend  to  effect  a  lodgment.  These  were  successfully  guarded  by  a  small 
corps  of  men  with  pails.  The  building  was  saved,  and  with  it,  undoubt- 
edly, the  entire  tract  north  of  Twelfth  street. 


i8  The  Insurance   Companies 


NORTH  DIVISION. 

The  north  side,  in  proportion  to  its  size,  perhaps  suffered  more  than 
both  of  the  other  divisions  united.  Practicallj',  with  the  exception  of  a 
few  streets,  which  were  occupied  by  retail  stores  to  a  certain  extent,  as 
Clark  and  Weils  streets,  and  also  North  Water  and  Kinzie  streets,  which 
•were  occupied  by  wholesale  stores,  commission  merchants,  wholesale 
butchers,  manufactories,  etc.,  and  a  narrow  strip  along  the  north  branch 
occupied  by  lumber  and  coal  yards,  the  north  side  was  almost 
exclusively  a  residence  portion  of  the  city.  In  the  extent  of  territory 
burned,  north  Chicago  was  also  the  most  unfortunate.  Doubly  unfor- 
tunate, also,  was  it  in  the  fact  that  when  the  fire  once  started  north  of 
the  river  its  progress  was  entirely  unchecked,  all  the  fire  engines  being- 
at  work  on  the  south  side,  from  whence  they  could  not  reach  the  north 
side,  even  if  they  would,  except  by  a  long  detour  around  by  Twelfth 
street  and  the  west  division, —  a  raging  barrier  of  flame  making  it  im- 
possible for  the  engines  to  pass  over  either  the  Lake  street,  Randolph 
street,  Madison  street,  or  Adams  street  bridges  to  the  west  side,  and  so 
from  that  side  over  the  Kinzie  street  bridge  and  other  bridges  north  of 
that  bridge.  In  addition  to  this,  the  north  side  was  unfortunate  in  that 
its  population,  moving  almost  block  by  block  as  the  flames  progressed 
north,  were  at  last  compelled,  with  the  exception  of  a  comparatively  few 
families,  to  sleep  out  all  night  on  the  open  prairie,  which  environs  the 
north  division  on  the  west  and  north;  the  fire  not  ceasing  its  march  of 
desolation  until  it  had  devoured  all  but  a  narrow  strip  of  houses  on  the 
•\vest  side  of  that  portion  of  the  north  division  which  lies  north  of 
Division  street. 

THE  COMMENCEMENT 

of  the  fire  on  the  north  side  seems  to  have  been  at  the  Galena  elevator, 
•which  is  located  on  the  north  side  of  the  main  branch  between  State 
street  and  Rush  street,  the  time  when  it  first  crossed  over  being  about 
20  minutes  to  6  o'clock  in  the  morning.  Having  once  got  a  start  to  the 
north  of  the  river,  the  fire  rapidly  progressed  north,  east,  and  west,  the 
back-fire  west  being  unusually  rapid.  The  corner  of  Rush  aud  Illinois 
streets,  three  blocks  beyond  the  elevator,  where  Judge  Grant  Goodrich 
resided,  was  soon  reached. 

BUSINESS  PORTION  BURNED. 

The  fire  then,  as  above  intimated,  progressed  rapidly  west,  as  well  as 
north  and  east,  first  burning  down  the  old  Lake  house,  one  of  the  oldest, 
if  not  the  oldest,  brick  hotel  in  Chicago.  In  its  course  west,  it  also 
burned  down,  in  addition  to  the  other  buildings,  old  St.  James'  church, 
the  oldest  brick  church  in  Chicago,  which  was  occupied  as  a  storehouse. 
About  this  time,  other  portions  of  the  north  side  adjoining  the  river 
caught  fire,  and  soon  all  North  Water  street,  which  was  occupied  by 
wholesale  stores  and  large  wholesale  markets,  was  in  flames,  the 


And  the    Chicago  Fire.  19 

Galena  depot,  the  Hough  house,  on  Wells  street,  and  the  Wheeler 
elevator,  -west  of  Wells  street,  being  also  burned  down. 

THE  NORTH  SIDE  BRIDGES 

also  were  rapidly  burned  up,  the  flames  from  them  helping  to  communi- 
cate the  fire  rapidly  all  along  the  north  shore  of  the  main  branch.  Not 
11  bridge  connecting  the  north  side  with  the  south  side  was  left;  Wells 
street  bridge,  Clark  street  bridge,  State  street  bridge,  Rush  street  bridge, 
nil  were  burned. 

Between  Kinzie  street  and  the  river  all  was  laid  low  and  buried  in  a 
mass  of  undistinguishable  ruins.  Uhlich's  hall,  the  Ewing  block,  the 
Galena  depot,  the  offices  of  the  Northwestern  company,  at  the  corner 
of  Wells  and  Kinzie  streets,  the  Galena  elevator,  all  were  burned  down 
in  a  miraculously  short  space  of  time. 

Between  Kinzie  street  and  Illinois  street,  from  the  north  branch  to  the 
lake,  nearly  all  was  burned;  among  the  prominent  buildings  consumed 
being  the  Revere  house,  on  the  northeast  corner  of  Kinzie  and  Clark, 
the  North  Market  hall,  one  of  the  oldest  buildings  in  Chicago,  the  Lake 
house,  one  of  the  oldest  brick  structures  in  the  city,  the  mammoth  reaper 
factory  of  McCormick  &  Co.,  a  large  sugar  refinery,  and  an  extensive 
coal  yard ;  the  last  three  establishments  being  located  east  of  Rush 

street. 

A  FEW  FORTUNATE  BUILDINGS 

were  left  standing,  but  they  only  seemed  to  emphasize  the  ruins  abound 
them.  These  exceptions  were  about  a  block  of  buildings  extending  west 
from  Market  street  to  the  north  branch,  on  the  north  side  of  Kinzie 
street,  and  a  large  brick  building,  occupied  as  a  stove  warehouse  by 
Rathbone  &  Co.,  located  to  the  south  of  Ogden  slip  on  the  land  which 
has  been  made  between  it  and  the  slip,  and  which  extends  out  into  the 
lake  several  hundred  feet. 

Between  Illinois  street  and  Chicago  avenue  the  fire  progressed  with 
irrepressible  fury  and  rapidity,  soon  enveloping  the  whole  section^ 
including  in  it  both  the  most  beautiful  and  the  most  forbidding  portions 
of  the  north  division.  On  the  west  of  Clark  street  and  south  of  Chicago 
avenue  was  a  section  of  the  city  densely  populated  ;  filled  with  buildings 
occupied,  many  of  them,  by  two  and  three  families;  a  region  which  in 
years  gone  by  was  noted  for  the  disorderly  character  of  its  elections. 
Its  only  prominent  features  were  a  few  churches,  including  the  German 
Lutheran  church,  on  the  corner  of  La  Salic  and  Ohio  streets,  and  a 
Norwegian  Lutheran  church,  built  in  1855,  on  tne  corner  of  Superior 
and  Franklin  streets;  the  Kinzie  school,  a  four  story  brick  building,  on 
Ohio  street,  between  La  Salle  and  Wells ;  the  fine  large  structure  known 
as  the  German  house,  dedicated  last  year,  and  containing  one  of  the 
finest  and  best  proportioned  halls  in  the  city.  This  portion  of  the  city 
had,  in  fact,  just  begun  to  renovate  itself;  its  streets  were  being  raised 
and  graded,  and  new  buildings  erected. 


3O  The  Insurance    Companies 

East  of  Clark  street  to  the  lake,  between  Illinois  street  and  Chicagj 
avenue,  was  the  pride  of  the  north  division.  Its  streets  were  bordered 
with  rows  of  magnificent  trees,  beautiful  gardens,  elegant  mansions, 
noble  churches,  all  of  which  fell  before  the  destroyer.  Among  the 
churches  were  the  North  Presbyterian  church,  an  immense  brick  struct- 
ure, on  the  corner  of  Indiana  and  Cass  streets;  a  couple  of  frame 
churches  on  Dearborn  street;  the  new  St.  James  church,  a  beautiful 
gothic  stone  structure,  on  the  corner  of  Huron  and  Cass  streets,  and 
the  vast  structure  of  the  cathedral  of  the  Holy  Name,  on  the  corner 
of  State  and  Superior  streets.  Among  the  other  prominent  public 
buildings  were  the  Catholic  college  of  St.  Mary  of  the  Lake,  occupying 
the  whole  block  north  of  the  cathedral  of  the  Holy  Name  ;  the  Orphans 
home,  conducted  by  Sisters  of  Mercy;  the  Historical  society's  building 
on  Ontario  street,  east  of  Clark,  in  which  were  kept  among  many  other 
valuable  historical  records,  the  original  proclamation  of  emancipation 
by  President  L  ncoln,  and  the  north-side  police  station  on  Huron  street, 
between  Clark  and  Dearborn  streets,  a  substantial  and  well-arranged 
building.  Among  the  prominent  residnces  were  those  of  Mrs.  Walter 
L.  Newberry,  whose  grounds  occupied  the  whole  block  bounded  by 
Ontario,  Rush,  Pine  and  Erie  streets  ;  that  of  Isaac  N.  Arnold,  occupy- 
ing the  block  north ;  that  of  McGee,  occupying  the  block  southwest  of 
the  Ogden  block,  etc.  In  short,  this  section  of  the  north  division  was 
full  of  beautiful  residences  and  gardens. 

In  the  northeast  corner  of  this  section  was  the  vast  building  of  LilPs 
ale  and  lager  beer  brewery,  occupying  the  two  blocks  bounded  on  the 
south  by  Superior  street,  on  the  north  by  Chicago  avenue,  on  the  west 
by  Pine  street,  and  on  the  east  by  the  lake, — the  whole  of  the  two 
blocks  being  occupied  by  the  brewery,  except  a  small  slip  on  the  south- 
west corner  of  Pine  and  Superior  streets,  and  a  small  portion  occupied 
by  the  residence  of  Mr.  Lill.  In  the  western  of  the  two  blocks  were  the 
ice  house,  the  malt  house,  the  brewing  house,  etc.,  all  substantial  and 
elegant  brick  buildings ;  the  eastern  block  or  rather  block  and  a  half 
were  occupied  by  stables,  carpenter  shop,  cooper  shop,  blacksmith  shop, 
etc.,  several  of  which  were  built  out  over  the  lake  on  piles. 

THE  CHICAGO  WATER  WORKS. 

Before  tracing  the  progress  of  the  fire  further  northward  must  be 
mentioned  the  burning  of  the  water  works,  and  the  curious  or  rather 
incomprehensible  manner  in  which  it  caught  fire  almost  two  hours 
before  the  time  that  the  fire  first  reached  the  north  division  across  the 
main  branch.  As  stated  above,  the  Galena  elevator  at  the  edge  of  the 
main  branch  caught  fire  from  the  south  side  at  about  20  minutes  to  6 
o'clock.  At  about  20  minutes  before  4  o'clock,  fire  was  discovered  in 
the  carpenter  shop  of  Mr.  Lill,  built  on  piles  above  the  shallow  water 
of  the  lake.  The  employes  at  the  brewery  immediately  endeavored  to 
extinguish  the  flames,  but  it  was  found  impossible,  and  all  the  efforts  of 


And  the   Chicago  Fire.  21 

the  men  were  confined  to  prevent  their  extension.  Standing  between 
the  burning  carpenter  shop  and  the  water  works,  extending  northwest 
of  the  shop,  stood  one  of  Mr.  Lill's  bookkeepers.  Turning  round 
toward  the  water  works,  he  exclaimed,  "  My  God,  the  waterworks  are 
in  flames."  This  gentleman  states  positively  that  the  flames  from  the 
water  works,  when  he  first  saw  them,  were  issuing  from  the  western 
portion  of  the  pumping  works,  no  flames  being  seen  from  the  eastern 
portion  of  the  grounds,  which  were  occupied  with  coal  sheds,  etc.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  employes  at  the  water  works  say  that  the  fire  com- 
menced about  half-past  3  o'clock  in  the  morning;  that  it  commenced  in 
the  eastern  part  of  the  water  works,  and  that  it  took  fire  from  the  shed. 
Another  gentleman  testifies  that  the  carpenter  shop  or  the  cooper  shop, 
as  he  called  it,  was  burned  down  before  the  fire  commenced  in  the  water 
works,  and  that  when  the  water  works  were  in  full  flame  the  main  body 
of  Lill's  brewery,  with  the  exception  of  the  carpenter  shop,  was  intact. 
The  time  of  the  commencement  of  the  fire  in  Lill's  carpenter  shop  and 
the  water  works,  however,  differs  one  hour;  the  last  named  witness 
asserting  that  the  water  works  commenced  burning  at  about  half-past 
2  or  3*  o'clock,  The  whole  building  was  soon  inflames,  and  in  a  few 
minutes  the  engineers  had  to  rush  out  of  the  building  to  save  their 
lives.  The  machinery  was  very  considerably  injured.  The  water 
tower,  however,  to  the  west  of  the  pumping  works,  was  almost  entirely 
uninjured. 

Ox  THE  SANDS. 

Before  relating  the  further  progress  of  the  flames  northward,  must 
also  be  noticed  the  mingled  scenes  of  sorrow  and  laughter,  or  tragedy 
and  comedy,  which  were  presented  on  what  were  once  known  as  the 
sands — that  part  of  the  lake  shore  which  lies  •sast  of  that  portion  of  the 
north  side  which  has  been  described  above.  This  sandy  waste  varies  in 
width  between  one  and  two  blocks,  being  the  widest  at  the  southern 
end,  near  the  river,  where  a  frame  building  stood  licre  and  there  before 
the  fire.  As  soon  as  the  fire  broke  out  along  the  north  side  of  the  main, 
river,  and  the  rapidity  of  its  progress  showed  that  it  would  sweep  the 
north  side,  or  a  considerable  portion  of  it,  all  the  inhabitants  of  the 
district  described,  lying  cast  of  State  street,  —  both  rich  and  poor,  both 
the  tenants  of  the  shanties  and  cottages  which  occupied  North  Water 
street,  Michigan  street,  Illinois  street,  and  the  south  end  cf  St.  Clair 
street,  and  the  tenants  of  the  aristocratic  mansions  north  of  this  local- 
ity,— fled  to  the  lake  shore,  carrying  with  them  whatever  they  were  able 
to  carry  in  their  hands,  but  little  and  but  short  opportunity  being  offered 
to  do  more.  The  scene  was  one  of  indescribable  confusion,  of  horror 
and  dismay,  intermingled  to  the  mere  spectator  with  laughable  inci- 
dents, which  were,  however,  quickly  drowned  in  the  overwhelming 
horror  which  surrounded  them  all.  Where  the  lake  shore,  or  sands, 
were  narrow,  and  the  burning  buildings  approached  close  to  the  lake 
*hore,  despair  reigned.  The  water  was  the  apparent  boundary  of  the 


23  The  Insurance    Companies 

place  of  refuge.  The  intense  heat  from  the  burning  buildings,  even  the 
flames  from  them,  reached  the  water,  and  even  stretched  out  over  it,  and 
the  flying  men,  women,  and  children,  rushed  into  the  lake  till  nothing 
but  their  heads  appeared  above  the  surface  of  the  waters ;  but  the  fiery 
fiend  was  not  satisfied.  The  hair  was  burned  off  the  heads  of  many, 
•\vhile  some  never  came  out  of  the  water  alive.  Many  who  stayed  on 
the  shore,  where  the  space  between  the  fire  and  water  was  a  little  wider, 
had  the  clothes  burned  from  off  their  backs. 

Those  again  who  lived  west  of  Clark  street  in  the  district  named,  as 
soon  as  they  saw  that  they  must  succumb  to  the  advancing  flames,  after 
flying,  and  moving  north  their  goods  from  block  to  block,  rushed  across 
the  bridges  which,  with  one  exception, —  that  of  the  Chicago  avenue 
bridge, —  remained  standing.  There  was  a  grand  emigration,  to  the 
west  side,  of  people  and  goods;  of  little  children  and  big;  of  crying- 
•women  and  excited  men  ;  of  broken  furniture  and  cracked  crockery ;  of 
ivheelbarrows,  buggies,  one-horse  teams,  two-horse  teams,  heavy  wagons, 
and  light  wagons, — everything  that  could  be  saved. 

What  was  saved  in  the  district  south  of  Chicago  avenue,  except  what 
has  already  been  mentioned,  was  located  on  the  banks  of  the  river.  The 
property  saved  from  the  flames  was  as  follows  :  The  new  north-side  gas 
works  just  south  of  the  Chicago  avenue  bridge,  the  old  works  south  of 
that  beingburned;  a  litle  lumber  yard  just  south  of  Erie  street,  which  was 
partially  built  on  piles  into  the  river ;  several  coal  yards  alongKingsbury 
street,  which  runs  along  the  river  side  at  a  distance  of  about  half  a 
block.  The  coal  yard  of  Blake,  Whitehouse  &  Co.,  was  saved  almost 
entire,  alarge,  cheap  frame  buildingin  which  coal  was  piled  upbeingalone 
destroyed.  Next  north  of  this  was  Reno  &  Little's  coal  yard.  Here 
most  of  the  coal  was  saved,  though  nothing  was  left  of  several  large 
piles  but  the  cinders.  Several  small  frame  buildings  on  Kingsbury 
street,  between  Indiana  and  Kinzie  streets,  are  only  partially  burned  and 
can  be  repaired.  Holbrook's  and  Dewey  &  Co.'s  coal  yards  to  the  east 
of  Kingsbury  street,  and  Brown  &  Van  Arsdale's  Manufacturing  com- 
pany's building  were  also  left  uninjured  to  any  serious  extent. 

NORTH  OF  CHICAGO  AVENUE. 

At  this  time,  between  five  and  half-past  five,  the  line  of  the  fire  as  it 
progressed  north,  was  about  a  mile  in  width.  Along  the  entire  line  the 
fire  appeared  as  if  attempting  to  see  which  portion  could  surpass  the 
other  in  its  march  of  destruction.  To  the  east,  near  the  lake  shore,  were 
the  large  ale  and  lager  beer  breweries  of  Sands,  Huck,  Brandt,  Bow- 
man, Schmidt,  Busch,  Doyle,  etc. ;  to  the  west,  near  the  north  branch, 
•was  a  densely-inhabited  district  filled  with  wooden  houses  as  dry  as  tin- 
der. From  the  three,  four  and  five  stories'  height  of  the  one,  the  sparks 
and  burning  charcoal  from  the  wooded  cupolas  of  the  breweries  were 
blown  blocks  northward,  setting  fire  to  the  buildings  on  which  they  fell. 
On  the  west,  the  closely-built  wooden  frame  buildings,  having  no  brick- 


And  the   Chicago  Fire.  23 

• 

walls  to  temporarily  stay  their  progress,  seemed  to  surrender  instanta- 
neously to  the  raging  fire  fiend  that  did  not  crawl  but  seemed  to  rush 
upon  them  with  unrestrainable  fury. 

All  seemed  to  be  immersed  in  a  hell  of  flame.  No  attempts  were  made 
to  stem  the  progress  of  the  fire.  -All  that  the  tenants  cf  the  houses 
could  do  was  to  save  a  few  of  their  household  goods,  and  this,  too, 
at  the  risk  of  their  lives.  The  scene  was  rendered  still  more  appalling 
by  the  fact  that  during  the  earlier  stages  of  the  fire,  thousands  of  the 
able-bodied  men  had  rushed  to  the  south  side  to  witness  the  fire  there, 
not  then  dreaming  that  it  would  reach  their  own  homes.  Before  the 
fire  on  the  south  side,  these  fathers,  brothers  and  sons,  were  gradually 
driven  across  the  river,  until  the  rapidity  of  the  progress  of  the  flames 
convinced  them  that  their  own  families  were  in  danger.  Being  at  last 
convinced,  they  rushed  in  frantic  haste  to  save  what  little  they  could. 
But  they  arrived  at  their  homes,  most  of  them,  in  an  exhausted  condi- 
tion. They  did  their  best,  but  the  best  was  but  little.  All  that  many 
could  do  was  to  aid  in  saving  the  lives  of  their  wives  and  children.  With 
their  all,  standing  in  their  houses,  many  attempted  impossible  things, 
and  rushed  into  burning  buildings  never  to  come  out  alive;  for  the 
wind  rushed  on  in  horrible  fury,  and  seemed  to  envelop  three  or  four 
houses  at  once  in  one  fell  swoop. 

Until  the  densely-populated  district  to  the  west  of  La  Salle  street  and 
between  Chicago  avenue  and  North  avenue  had  been  wasted,  there  was 
no  stay  to  the  rapid  progress  of  the  fire.  AH  that  many  people  could 
do  was  to  save  themselves,  and  perhaps  a  few  valuables  that  they  could 
carry  in  their  hands.  A  few  indeed,  ot  those  who  saw  beforehand  that 
their  homes  would  be  burned  down,  even  when  the  flames  were  half  a  mile 
off,  saved,  perhaps,  half  of  their  furniture;  but  many  of  these  even  were 
able  to  save  but  little.  No  conveyance  could  be  found  in  many  cases, 
and  piles  of  furniture  were  only  saved  from  t'he  house  to  be  burned  in 
the  street.  East  of  Dearborn  street  the  scene  was  a  parallel  one;  the 
homeless  occupants  of  the  houses  in  many  cases  rushing  to  the  narrow 
beach  which  bounds  this  portion  of  the  north  division  on  the  east,  and 
the  same  sufferings  that  occurred  on  the  portion  of  the  beach  referred  to 
south  of  this,  were  repeated  and  aggravated  by  the  narrowness  of  the 
beach.  How  many  were  killed,  how  many  dangerously  burned,  it  will 
be  impossible  to  find  out.  Relatives  and  friends  have  not  waited  for  the 
coroner,  but  have  buried  their  own  dead  on  their  own  responsibility, 
and  no  one  person  will  ever  know  the  names,  or  even  the  number,  of 
the  victims  of  the  fire  in  the  north  division.  In  the  district  mentioned, 
with  the  exception  of  La  Salle  street,  Clark  street,  and  Dearborn  street, 
the  population  was  densely  packed.  In  many  of  the  houses  lived  two  or 
three  families.  To  the  east  of  it  were  large  breweries,  where,  till  the 
last  moment,  the  employes  worked  to  save  the  buildings,  at  last  rushing 
to  their  own  already  burning  buildings  to  save  their  families.  Children, 
as  is  usual  in  poor  districts,  seemed  to  swarm  around  every  building, 


24  The  Insurance  Companies 

and  how  many  of  these,  left  to  their  own  care,  infants,  toddling  child- 
ren, little  boys  and  girls,  sank  before  the  fire  it  is  impossible  to  estimate. 
Suffice  it  to  say  that  hundreds  have  been  missed  who  were  seen  at  the 
fire  but  never  since. 

A  FORTUNATE  DISTRICT. 

That  portion  of  the  north  division  which  lies  between  Chestnut  street 
and  Oak  street,  and  between  La  Salle  street  and  Dearborn  street,  was 
remarkably  fortunate.  Tl.e  only  house  in  the  north  division  inside  the 
limits  of  the  fire  that  has  escaped  not  only  destruction  but  even  injury, 
is  located  in  this  district.  This  house  ie  that  of  Mahlon  D.  Ogden,  Esq., 
on  the  north  side  of  the  street  variously  known  as  Whiting  and  Whitney 
streets  and  Lafayette  place.  Undoubtedly  the  saving  of  this  house  from 
the  flames  was  due  to  the  fact  that  south  of  it  was  the  Washington  park, 
or  square,  and  on  the  south-west  and  west  the  two  blocks,  occupied,  the 
southern  by  Mr.  McCagg,  and  the  northern  by  the  widow  of  a  rich 
citizen.  On  each  of  the  last  two  named  blocks  only  one  house  stood. 
The  house  on  the  latter  block  was  almost  entirely  destroyed.  The  house 
on  the  block  to  the  south  was  but  partially  destroyed,  and  the  large  hot- 
house to  the  south  of  it,  and  one  of  the  finest  in  the  city,  was  hardly  in- 
jured at  all,  but  a  few  panes  of  glass  on  the  north  side  of  it  being  broken 
by  the  heat.  Among  other  buildings  burned  was  the  Ogden  school, 
near  State  street. 

LINCOLN  PARK  AND  OLD  CITY  CEMETERY. 

These  deserve  special  mention.  Lincoln  park — the  glory  of  the  north 
division — has  been  almost  entirely  preserved.  But  few  trees  have  been 
injured,  except  in  the  southeastern  portion  of  the  park  where  the  dead 
house  stood  and  where  a  few  trees  are  burned  ;  the  small-pox  hospital 
to  the  east  on  the  lake  shore  being  also  destroyed.  The  gravestones  or 
rather  board  memorials  of  the  dead  poor  are  many  of  them  destroyed, 
and  their  relatives  will  know  no  more  the  place  of  rest  of  their  kindred. 
The  fences  around  the  graves,  the  boards  which  have  told  to  the  wan- 
derer their  names,  are  all  destroyed  in  the  southern  portion  of  the  old 
cemetery.  In  the  park  itself  many  took  refuge,  though  the  great  major- 
ity, as  hereafter  stated,  fled  to  the  prairies  on  the  northwest. 

North  of  North  avenue  no  efforts  whatever  were  made  to  stop  the 
progress  of  the  flames,  with  one  exception,  which  will  be  hereafter  men- 
tioned. They  followed  out  their  course,  the  only  means  that  prevented 
their  progress  both  north  and  west  being  stretches  of  bare  prairie  on 
which  there  was  nothing  to  burn.  Excepting  on  Clark  and  Wells  streets, 
the  houses  were  more  or  less  separated  from  each  other,  occupying  or 
being  separated  from  each  other  by  two  or  three  lots  and  often  more. 
A  small  portion  of  the  district  north  of  North  avenue  and  west  of  Wells 
street  was  thickly  settled. 

THE  NORTHERN  LIMIT  OF  THE  FIRE. 
At  Fuller-ton  avenue,  a  little  over  two-and-a-half  miles  north  of  the 


And  the  Chicago  Fire.  25 

river,  the  progress  of  the  fire  was  finally  stopped.  A  lull  of  the  wind, 
between  two  and  four  o'clock  on  Tuesday  morning,  aided  in  the  work 
of  preventing  the  further  progress  of  the  flames  northward ;  the  only 
houses  burned  north  of  Fullerton  avenue  being  Mr.  John  Iluck's  resi- 
dence, and  a  building  occupied  by  a  Mr.  Felk.  Between  the  hours 
named  Mr.  Huck's  men  turned  out  and  beat  out  the  sparks  that  came 
from  the  south  as  they  fell  on  the  ground.  A  slight  rain  falling  at  the 
same  time  aided  in  the  work. 

A  NIGHT  ON  THE  PRAIRIE. 

During  all  this  time,  however,  that  the  fire  had  been  raging  in  the 
north  division,  sometimes  advancing  directly  northeast,  sometimes 
progressing  westward  with  a  terrible  back-fire,  people  had  been  flying 
north  and  northwest,  until  the  few  houses  within  reach  in  Lake  View 
and  beyond  the  limits  were  crowded  full  of  refugees,  and  the  flying  popu- 
lation were  compelled  to  take  refuge  on  the  open  prairie.  Here  were 
gathered  thousands  of  people,  tired  men,  delicate  women,  children  in 
arms  without  cover,  without  shelter  of  any  kind  ;  many,  indeed,  without 
Clothes  on  their  backs.  Worse  than  all,  here,  too,  were  compelled  to  rest 
from  their  long-continued  flight,  the  sick  and  the  wounded. 

And  as  if  these  experiences  were  not  enough  to  satisfy  the  demon  of 
destruction  that  had  driven  them  hither,  women  were  seized  with  the 
pains  of  childbirth,  and  children  were  born  on  the  open  prairie.  The 
scene  was  a  sorrowful  one.  Even  water  was  denied  to  the  ^arched  lips 
of  the  unexpected  wanderers  upon  the  prairies. 

BOUNDARIES  OF  THE  FIRE  ON  THE  NORTH  SIDE. 

The  boundaries  of  the  fire  in  the  north  division  were  as  follows  :  With 
the  exception  of  the  few  buildings  mentioned  above,  the  fire  extended 
over  all  the  north  division  from  the  main  branch  to  Division  street,  and 
from  the  north  branch  to  the  lake ;  very  nearly  700  acres  of  territory. 
The  fire  left  the  north  branch  at  Division  street,  where  it  left  a  few 
houses  standing  along  the  side  of  the  river.  The  back-fire  then  extend- 
ed to  the  river  again,  or  to  what  is  known  as  the  north-branch  canal, 
which  connects  the  ends  of  a  semi-circle  in  the  river,  which  bends  over 
to  the  west.  Following  the  canal,  or  new  channel  of  the  river,  for  a 
short  distance,  the  fire  then  tended  a  little  to  the  east,  as  far  as  Halsted 
street,  up  which  it  extended  to  Clybourne  avenue,  the  back-fire  extending 
along  the  avenue  northwest  to  Blackhawk  street,  and  a  little  west  until 
it  reached  Orchard  street — a  north  and  south  street,  excepting  at  its 
junction  with  the  avenue,  where  it  runs  for  about  a  block  in  a  northeast 
direction.  After  reaching  Orchard  ctrect,  the  fire  proceeded  north  to 
Willard  street,  where  it  proceeded  east  along  Howe  street  to  Hurlbut 
street,  across  a  couple  of  undivided  blocks.  Along  Hurlbut  street  the 
firt  proceeded  north  to  Centre  avenue,  on  which  only  three  houses  were 
burned  down ;  the  blocks  around  being  nearly  vacant.  It  then  advanced 


26  The  Insurance    Companies 

up  Hurlbut  street  to  within  about  100  feet  of  Fullerton  avenue.  In  the 
meanwhile  the  fire  had  taken  all  east  of  this  with  the  exception  of 
Lincoln  park.  North  of  Fullerton  avenue,  the  fire  burned  up  only  two 
houses;  those  being  located  east  of  Clark  street.  Here  the  progress  of 
the  fire  was  stayed  in  the  manner  stated  above. 

BETWEEN  FIRE  AND  WATER. 

No  narrative  could  possess  more  terrible  interest  than  that  which 
should  tell,  in  the  simplest  words,  the  story  of  the  many  wonderful 
escapes  from  death  in  the  awful  conflagration  of  Chicago.  Thnt  many 
persons  perished  in  the  burning  is  already  known.  That  the  number 
may  have  been  hundreds  is  possible.  God  alone  can  ever  knew  the  man- 
ner or  the  agonies  of  their  death.  But  of  thousands  of  those  Avho  escaped 
from  the  awful  cyclone  of  fire,  the  story  is  one  that  finds  hardly  a  parallel 
in  all  human  experience  since  the  world  begun, 

The  greater  number  of  these 

TERRIBLE  EXPERIENCES 

occurred  in  the  north  division.  The  more  combustible  nature  of  the 
buildings  in  that  part  of  the  city  gave  to  the  conflagration  a  wider  sweep 
and  a  more  rapid  movement  than  in  the  south  division.  Like  a  mighty 
line  of  battle,  the  conflagration  extended  its  terrible  banners  of  flame 
until  the  right  rested  on  the  lake;  the  left  on  the  river;  then  advancing 
in  one  awful  charge,  it  literally  swept  that  portion  of  the  city  from  the 
face  of  the  earth.  Nothing  could  penetrate  that  vast  line  of  flame  and 
live.  Before  it  60,000  men,  women  and  children  fled  for  their  lives. 

On  the  eastern  side  of  the  district,  many  persons  fled  to  the  lake  shore, 
supposing  that  to  be  a  place  of  entire  safety.  Many,  indeed,  were  cut 
off  by  the  rapidly  advancing  flames  from  the  possibility  of  escape  in  any 
other  direction.  For  nearly  all  who  sought  escape  in  that  direction  the 
sequel  proved  that  they  had  taken  a  fearful  chance. 

The  experience  of  Mr.  Lambert  Tree  and  family  was  in  part  that 
of  many.  Perceiving  that  his  own  house  could  not  escape,  Mr.  Tree, 
with  his  wife  and  child  and  aged  father,  Avent  to  the  residence  of 
his  father-in-law,  Mr.  Magee.  The  Magee  residence  occupied  the 
centre  of  a  large  enclosure,  and  was  therefore  regarded  as  a  place  of 
probable  safety.  But  the  very  fact  that  of  its  isolation  from  surround- 
ing buildings  soon  revealed  that  it  was  the  most  dangerous  retreat 
that  could  have  been  chosen.  The  conflagration  enveloped  it  com- 
pletely on  all  sides  before  the  house  took  fire.  On  the  side  opposite 
to  the  approaching  flames,  the  square  was  enclosed  by  a  high  board 
fence,  without  openings.  On  the  front,  the  flames  had  already  cut  off 
all  possibility  of  retreat.  The  only  way  of  escape  was  toward  the  north- 
east, over  the  fence  already  mentioned ;  a  barrier  which  three  aged  per- 
sons, a  woman  already  fainting  in  the  dense  smoke,  and  a  little  child 
half  suffocated,  could  not  possibly  scale.  The  fence,  too,  was  on  fire. 


And  the   Chicago  Fife.  27 

The  house  was  already  enveloped  in  a  shower  of  burning  fire-brands.  A 
horrible  death  seemed  to  be  the  inevitable  doom  of  the  entire  party. 

At  this  terrible  juncture,  a  portion  of  the  burning  fence  fell  to  the 
ground,  opening  a  gateway  from  the  fiery  cul  de  sac.  Through  this 
opening,  Mr.  Tree,  dragging  his  fainting  wife  and  child,  fled  toward  the 
lake.  In  the  flight  from  the  premises  the  party  became  separated. 
Nothing  more  was  seen  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Magee  until,  on  the  following 
day.  they  were  found  on  the  prairie  northwest  of  the  city.  In  their  flight, 
they  had  taken  a  different  direction  from  the  others,  and  had  no  choice 
but  to  hasten  on  before  the  advancing  fire  until  beyond  the  line  of  its 
horrible  path.  The  aged  couple  passed  the  night  of  Monday  on  the 
open  prairie. 

In  an  open  space,  sheltered  by  the  walls  of  Lill's  brewery,  Mr.  Tree 
and  his  family,  with  some  of  their  neighbors,  again  supposed  themselves 
to  be  in  a  place  of  safety.  But  from  this  refuge  they  were  also  driven  by 
the  advancing  flames.  The  intense  heat  drove  them  to  the  beach,  and 
even  into  the  water,  in  which  many  men,  Avomen  and  children  stood 
for  an  hour,  throwing  water  over  their  clothing  to  prevent  it  taking  fire 
from  the  flame  and  sparks  which  a  fierce  wind  drove  toward  them.  In 
one  instance  the  dress  of  a  lady  actually  took  fire;  the  wearer,  with 
great  presence  of  mind,  removed  it  from  her  person  to  the  lake.  The 
heat,  ever  and  anon,  enveloped  the  fugitives  like  hot  blasts  from  the 
mouth  of  a  furnace.  Dense  clouds  of  stifling  smoke  swept  over  them, 
threatening  instant  suffocation.  Children  fainted,  and  strong  men 
could  only  breathe  by  keeping  their  faces  to  the  ground  until  some  new 
air  current,  lifting  the  smoke  or  turning  aside  the  fiery  blast,  gave  tem- 
porary relief.  The  situation  is  described  by  those  who  experienced  its 
horrors,  as  one  surpassing  all  possibilities  of  conception  or  belief.  But 
the  flames,  finding  at  length  no  more  to  consume,  swept  on  and  the 
fugitives  were  saved. 

LOSS   AND   INSURANCE. 

It  is  impossible  to  ascertain  in  dollars  and  cents  the  precise  amount 
of  the  loss;  it  is  not,  however,  impossible  to  make  a  trustworthy  ap- 
proximation, from  actual  and  unimpeachable  data. 

And,  preliminary  thereto,  it  may  be  well  to  say  that  the  ten  thousand 
guesses  at  the  aggregate  loss  which  one  hears  in  every  place  r.rc  mostly 
of  the  wildest  and  absurd  character.  The  aggregate  loss  has  been  vari- 
ously guessed  to  be  two,  three,  four,  five,  and  so  on  to  eight  or  nine  hun- 
dred millions  of  dollars.  One  will  meet  in  an  hour's  walk  among 
the  ruins  twenty  intelligent  men  who  will  avow  that  not  a  dollar  less 
than  $500,000,000  of  property  has  been  destroyed.  This  is  nonsense. 
At  the  most  liberal  estimate  $500,000,000  would  cover  the  value  of  every 
particle  of  property  of  every  kind  that  ever  existed  within  the  corporate 
limits  of  Chicago.  It  is  certainly  not  all  destroyed ;  nor  a  half,  nor  r. 
third  of  it. 


28  The  Insurance    Companies 

A  CAREFUL  CALCULATION 

•will  show  that  $150,000,000  is  a  liberal  estimate  for  the  value  that  has 
been  destroyed  by  the  conflagration.  The  valuation  of  property  for  city 
taxation  for  the  present  year  was  in  round  numbers  as  follows  : 

REAL    ESTATE    (INCLUDING    BUILDINGS.) 

South  Division $110,000,000 

West  Division 87,000,000 

North  Division 38,000,000 


Total $235,000,000 

PERSONAL    PROPERTY. 

South  Division $40,000,000 

West  Division 8,000,000 

North  Division 5,000,000 


Total $53,000.000 

The  judgment  of  the  most  trustworthy  experts  is  that  the  assessed 
valuation  of  real  property  is  rather  over  than  under  two-thirds  of  the  ac- 
tual cash  value,  upon  an  average  of  the  whole  city,  while  that  of  person- 
al property  is  probably  rather  under  than  over  one-third  of  the  actual 
cash  value.  Adding  one-third  to  the  real  property  and  two-thirds  to  the 
personal,  and  the  total  value  of  all  property  in  the  city  of  Chicago  before 
the  fire  was  $469,000,000.  How  much  of  this  value  still  remains?  How 
much  of  it  has  the  fire  destroyed? 

Assessment  District  No.  i  included  all  the  south  division  north  of 
Twelfth  street.  The  total  valuation  of  land  and  buildings  in  that  dis- 
trict was  $64,000,000;  about  $40,000,000  for  the  former,  and  $24,000,000 
for  the  latter.  Much  the  greater  part  of  the  personal  property  of  the  south 
division  was  in  that  district;  probably  $35,000,000;  total  $99,000,000. 
Deducting  $40,000,000  for  the  land,  and  the  loss,  if  everything  else 
were  destroyed,  would  be  $60.000,000,  according  to  the  assessor's  valua- 
tion ;  or  if  this  be  equal  upon  an  average  of  real  and  personal  estate  to 
one-half  the  actual  cash  value  (which  is  believed  to  be  quite  within  the 
fact),  an  actual  loss  of  $120,000,000.  Similarly,  the  actual  loss  in  the 
north  division  is  found  to  be  in  the  vicinity  of  $30,000,000.  But  from 
this  calculation  must  be  deducted  all  that  unburnt  portion  of  assessment 
district  No.  i,  between  Twelfth  and  Harrison  streets,  and  a  small  un- 
burnt district  in  the  northwest  corner  of  the  north  division.  From  it 
must  also  be  deducted  the  value  of  all  personal  property  saved  from  the 
fire.  To  it  must  be  added  the  loss  in  the  burnt  district  of  the  west  divis- 
ion. Thus,  while  the  calculation  does  not  assume  the  character  of 
precision,  it  furnishes  a  trustworthy  approximation,  showing  that 
$150,000,000  will  cover  the  entire  destruction  of  property  by  the  confla- 
gration. 

A  SURVEY  BY  STREETS. 

No  better  idea  of  the  losses  can  be  obtained  than  can  be  got  by  going 


And  the    CJiicago    Fire.  29 

over  a  little  5n  detail  the  area  swept  by  the  fire  in  the  south  division. 
As  jet,  and  for  weeks  and  months  to  come,  no  one  will  be  able  to 
enumerate  these  losses  accurately  and  elaborately. 

Beginning  not  with  the  point  where  the  fire  commenced,  but  at  the 
main  branch  of  the  river  for  convenience,  let  us  enumerate  the  streets 
and,  as  far  as  possible,  recall  what  was  on  them,  what  was  bought  and 
sold  and  stored  there,  and  by  whom  they  were  occupied. 

And  first,  South  Water  street  was  swept  with  destruction's  besom, 
from  the  south  branch  to  the  lake.  Here  went  down  the  lumber  ex- 
change, several  elevators  with  their  contents,  almost  innumerable 
houses  stored  with  flour,  with  apples  and  butter,  with  lard  and  pork, 
poultry,  farm  products,  garden  vegetables,  and  on  the  east  half  of  the 
street  on  both  sides  were  wholesale  houses  stored  from  cellar  to  attic 
with  groceries,  coarse  and  fine,  with  the  products  of  Europe,  the  wines 
of  Burgundy  and  the  Rhine;  coffees  from  South  America,  the  West 
Indies,  and  the  Orient;  teas  piled  high  like  a  Canton  storehouse; 
whiskies,  the  distilled  essence  of  thousands  of  acres  of  Illinois  corn, — 
these,  with  all  that  was  left  of  the  Fort  Dearborn  buildings,  were  wiped 
•out,  for  the  entire  length  of  the  street,  with  the  peculiar  paraphernalia 
of  the  street,  the  skids,  the  clogged  and  choked  sidewalks,  through 
which  buyers  wended  sinuous.  Where,  now,  oh  consignees  from  the 
northwest,  are  the  products  of  your  labor !  You  may  come  in  thousands, 
as  you  already  have,  to  look  after  them  ;  but  they  are  consigned  where 
no  consignee  or  purchaser  will  ever  see  them, — into  oxygen  and  hydro- 
gen, thin  air. 

While  pursuing  its  resistless  way  a.ong  this  street,  eating  through  the 
\-egetables,  and  poultry,  and  fruits,  and  provisions  of  the  northwest 
more  rapidly  than  the  carnivorous  tooth  of  time  aided  by  the  forces  of 
decay,  the  fires  were  also  sweeping  across  the  river. 

Next  take  Lake  street.  This  street,  which  for  twenty  years  has  stood 
as  the  great  business  street  of  Chicago,  was  totally  destroyed  from  end 
to  end,  from  the  lake  to  the  river,  with  the  contents  of  the  houses.  The 
principal  hide  and  leather  houses  occupied  the  west  end;  next  came 
several  heavy  hardware  and  cutlery  establishments,  farm  implement 
establishments  and  toy  shops,  some  of  the  largest  silver  and  plated 
ware  establishments,  clothing  houses,  large  retail  dry  goods  houses, 
and  below  Dearborn  street  both  sides  of  the  street  were  occupied  for 
about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  with  palatial  marble-fronted  rows  where  goods 
where  only  sold  at  wholesale;  tall  buildings  whose  shadows  fell  entirely 
across  the  street  and  terminated  somewhat  up  the  fronts  of  the  opposite 
side.  These,  containing  millions  of  dollars'  worth  of  goods  of  all  kinds, 
the  labor  of  the  loom,  from  sunny  France,  from  Italy,  from  India  and 
China,  and  the  shops  of  old  and  of  new  England,  were  all  consigned  at 
last  to  the  general  limbo  of  total  destruction.  At  the  foot  of  this  street 
stood  several  fine  hotels,  the  Adams,  the  Richmond  and  Massasoit 
houses  and  the  great  railroad  union  depot,  a  marvel  of  magnitude  and 


30  The  Insurance   Companies 

art,  whose  picture  graces  some  of  the  school  geographies.  These,  with 
the  freight  buildings  and  the  warehouses  beyond  almost  to  the  mouth 
of  the  harbor,  containing  freight  and  stores,  and  grain  in  quantities  that 
nobody  knows,  and  probably  never  will,  in  the  aggregate,  were  all 
consumed. 

Then  Randolph  street  followed.  The  Lind  block  stands,  at  the  bridge, 
the  solitary  structure  left  out  of  all  that  was  valuable,  beautiful,  or 
grand  on  this  street.  This  was  the  street  where  the  large  hotels  stood, 
the  Sherman  house,  the  Briggs  house,  the  Metropolitan,  the  Matteson, 
and  several  others.  A  large  number  of  furniture  establishments  and 
toy  establishments  occupied  the  west  end  of  the  street,  while  the  east 
end  was  devoted,  like  Lake  street,  to  wholesale  houses,  including  the 
great  auction  houses,  the  Museum,  the  Northwestern  Engraving  com- 
pany's building,  and  several  wholesale  grocery  establishments,  together 
with  a  miscellaneous  business,  comprising  retail  establishments,  banks, 
etc.,  which  were  all  consigned  to  ruin  with  the  rest. 

Washington  street,  from  the  tunnel  to  the  lake,  comprised  many  of 
the  best  buildings  in  the  city.  It  was  largely  devoted  to  banks,  offices, 
insurance,  and  real  estate  dealers.  On  this  street  was  the  Second  Pres- 
byterian church,  the  Union  bank  building,  the  Merchants'  insurance 
building,  the  Nevada  house,  the  Opera  house,  St.  James'  hotel,  the  First 
National  bank,  the  Board  of  Trade,  and  a  large  number  of  other  equally 
fine  blocks,  almost  all  of  which  were  marble  fronts. 

Then  all  of  Madison  street,  from  the  lake  to  the  bridge.  Some  of  the 
famous  buildings  on  this  street  were  Farwell  hall,  McVicker's  theatre, 
the  Morrison  block,  Tribune  building,  Staais  Zcitung  building,  and  St. 
Mary's  church.  The  entire  street  was  built  up  with  blocks  such  as  can- 
not be  excelled  in  any  city. 

Monroe  street,  from  river  to  lake,  having  upon  it  the  Lombard  block, 
f.he  postoffice,  the  Prairie  Farmer  building,  and  a  large  number  of  the 
finest  blocks  in  the  city;  Adams  street,  with  its  cheaper  buildings  at  the 
west  end,  its  Academy  of  Design,  with  most  of  the  works  of  art  therein 
contained,  its  temple  of  Swedenborg,  the  south  side  reservoir,  and  many 
other  buildings;  Q^iincy  street,  with  its  Pacific  hotel,  fast  approaching 
completion,  and  its  Palmer  house,  the  pride  of  everybody,  with  its 
palaces  and  its  dens  of  infamy  and  shame;  Jackson  street,  from  the  resi- 
dences of  the  rich  and  the  elegant  Trinity  church  on  the  east,  to  the  less 
pretentious  houses  of  the  working  class  farther  west,  to  the  hundreds 
of  dens  and  holes  of  darkness  at  the  west,  were  illuminated  and 
oxygenized. 

Van  Buren  street,  with  its  bridge,  its  magnificent  railway  depot,  St. 
Paul's  church,  the  Academy  of  Science  building,  and  its  blocks  of  fine 
residences  and  acres  of  poor  ones,  were  annihilated. 

Congress  street,  with  its  elegant  Second  Congregational  church; 
Harrison  street,  with  its  freight-house,  the  Jones  school  building,  and 
every  thing  else,  except  the  Methodist  church  on  Wabash  avenue,  and 


And  the    Chicago   Fire.  31 

the  houses  on  Michigan  avenue,  fell  before  the  names.  And  this  was  the 
most  southern  street  which  was  burned  from  end  to  end,  from  the  lake 
to  the  river. 

These  east  and  west  streets  only  comprise  in  their  description  a  larger 
portion  of  the  houses  burned. 

On  State  street,  stood  the  magnificent  book  stores  of  Griggs  &  Co., 
Keene  &  Cooke,  and  the  Western  News  company,  Field  &  Lciter's  whole- 
sale dry  goods  house,  besides  many  large  wholesale  and  retail  carpet 
houses,  jewelry  establishments  and  furniture  houses. 

On  Dearborn  street  stood  The  Times  and  The  Journal  newspaper 
offices,  the  Dearborn  theatre,  and  a  considerable  number  of  banks  and 
large  office  blocks.  La  Salle  street  was  built  up  with  many  of  the  finest 
buildings  to  be  found  in  the  city.  It  was  largely  occupied  by  insurance 
agents,  real  estate  brokers,  lawyers,  etc.  Between  Washington  and 
Randolph  streets,  stood  the  court-house,  which,  of  course,  shared  the 
general  ruin. 

These  details  are  only  given  to  aid  the  reader  in  obtaining  a  proximate 
idea  of  the  losses.  Little  was  saved  except  from  those  houses  which 
were  not  attacked  by  the  flames  until  several  hours  after  it  was  seen  to 
be  inevitable  that  the  city  was  doomed. 

Immense  quantities  of  goods  were  piled  upon  lake  park  and  on  the 
grounds  of  the  Chicago  Base  Ball  club — pyramids  of  clothing,  boots  and 
shoes,  dry  goods,  and  furniture  from  the  houses  of  the  rich  dwellers 
along  Michigan  avenue — all  of  which  fell  a  prey  to  the  destroyer. 

THE  Loss  OF  LIFE. 

The  loss  of  life,  though  smaller  than  could  have  been  predicted  in 
such  an  extended  and  such  a  rapid  fire,  can  yet  never  be  fully  estimated. 
There  have  been  charred  remains  at  the  morgue  which  were  almost 
unrecognizable  as  human  bodies,  and  as  the  ruins  are  lying  from  two 
to  ten  feet  deep  in  places,  it  is  impossible  to  say  how  many  have  been  buried 
under  them.  The  fact  that  but  few  of  those  who  are  prominently  known 
are  missing,  must  not  lead  any  to  believe  that  there  have  not  been  many 
lost  who  would  be  missed  only  by  an  exceedingly  Kmall  circle  of  friends, 
too  obscure  themselves  to  attract  much  attention. 

The  greatest  loss  of  life  was  in  the  north  division  among  the  wooden 
buildings  where  the  billows  of  fire  rolled  along  so  rapidly  that  the 
victims  were  engulphcd  before  they  were  aware  that  the  fire  had  reached 
their  neighborhood.  The  flames  often  jumped  two  or  three  blocks  at 
once,  as  was  the  case  at  the  water  works  and  Lilt's  brewery,  which  were 
on  fire  a  long  time  before  any  of  the  adjoinng  buildings.  At  the  water 
works  one  man  crawled  into  a  2o-inch  pipe,  which  was  lying  in  the 
street,  and  was  burned  to  acrisp. 

To  the  death  record  should  be  added  the  mortality  on  the  prairies  of 
the  northwestern  part  of  the  city  where  many  children  and  babes-in- 


32  The   Insurance   Companies 

arms,  unsheltered  and  almost  unprotected  bj  garments,  took  cold  in  the 
rain  of  Monday  night  following  the  fire,  and  died  from  croup  before 
help  could  be  secured. 


THE  GREAT  FIRES  OF  HISTORY. 

Among  the  great  fires  of  modern  history,  the  mind  naturally  reverts 
to  the  conflagration  in  London,  in  1666,  as  the  most  destructive.  Rela- 
tively, such  it  was,  for  it  continued  four  days  and  nights,  and  consumed 
nearly  five-sixths  of  the  city  within  its  walls.  Yet.  although  more 
than  13,000  houses  of  the  description  then  common  in  the  thickly  settled 
portions  of  the  city,  were  destroyed,  the  area  laid  waste  was  only  436 
acres,  or  less  than  a  square  mile,  while  the  aggregate  loss  did  not  exceed 
$60,000,000.  The  city  of  Moscow,  several  times  before  grievously  afflicted 
by  fires,  was  made  almost  a  smoking  waste  upon  its  occupation  by  the 
French  in  1812,  when,  by  order  of  the  Russian  governor,  Rostopchin,  it 
was  set  on  fire  in  five  hundred  places  at  once,  and  11,840  houses  burned  to 
the  ground,  besides  palaces  and  churches.  Hamburg,  in  Germany,  was 
visited  by  a  fire  on  the  5th  of  May,  1842,  which  continued  four  days,  and 
destroyed  one-third  of  the  city.  In  the  United  States,  the  most  memor- 
able conflagration  prior  to  that  which  has  just  devastated  Chicago,  was 
the  great  fire  in  New  York,  in  1835,  which  extended  from  east  of  Broad- 
way and  south  or  below  Wall  street,  destroying  648  stores,  the  Merch- 
ants'exchange,  and  the  south  Dutch  church.  Loss  estimated  at  $;o,- 
000,000.  Other  great  fires  occurred  in  Charleston,  South  Carolina, 
April  27,  1838,  when  1,158  buildings,  covering  145  acres,  were  burned; 
in  New  York,  again,  September  6,  1839,  l°ss  $10,000,200;  in  Pittsburgh, 
April  10,  1845,  i>ooo  buildings,  loss  $6,000.000;  in  Quebec,  May  28,  1845, 
1,500  buildings,  and  in  June  of  the  same  year,  1,300  buildings;  in  New 
York,  July  19,  1845,  302  stores  and  dwellings,  loss  $6,000,000;  in  Albany, 
September  9,  1848,  24  acres  burned  over  and  300  buildings  destroyed,  loss 
$3,000,000;  in  St.  Louis,  July  9,  1849,  35°  buildings,  loss  $3,000,000;  in 
San  Francisco,  May  3,  1851,  2,500  buildings,  loss  $3.500,000,  and  again 
June  22,  1851,  500  buildings,  loss  $3,000,000;  and  at  Portland,  Me.,  July 
4,  1866,  when  10,000  people  were  rendered  homeless,  and  fifteen  millions 
of  property  destroyed. 


WHAT  IS   SPARED   TO   CHICAGO. 
[From  The  Chicago  Tribune.~\ 

Our  columns  have  been  so  extensively  occupied  during  the  past  week 
vrith  reports  of  the  enormous  losses  of  life  and  property  in  the  late  fire, 
that  there  is  some  danger  that  the  damage  sustained  will  be  over- 
estimated. True,  we  have  seen  2,500  acres  in  the  most  central  portion 
of  the  city  swept  bare,  20,000  buildings  destroyed,  and  100,000  persons 
rendered  homeless,  the  total  pecuniary  loss  being  not  less  than 


And  the   C*"'~«{ro  Fire.  33 

$300.000.000;  but  we  have  still  a  great  deal  left.  We  may  roughly 
estimate  the  situation  as  follows  : 

Above  50.000  persons  have  left  the  city ;  population  remaining,  280,000. 

Five  grain  elevators  were  burned,  with  1,600,000  bushels  of  grain; 
leaving  us  with  eleven  grain  warehouses  intact,  containing  5,000,000 
bushels. 

One  half  of  our  stocks  of  pork  products  were  burned  up,  with  the 
same  proportion  of  flour. 

Of  lumber,  50,000,000  feet  were  burned;  the  stock  remaining  is 
240.000.000  feet. 

Of  coal,  So.ooo  tons  were  burned  up;  we  have  79,000  tons  on  hand. 

Our  stock  of  leather  was  decreased  one-quarter,  the  value  of  that 
burned  up  being  $95.000. 

The  greater  portion  of  the  stocks  of  groceries,  dry  goods,  and  boots 
and  shoes  were  burned  up,  with  more  than  one-half  the  ready-made 
clothing;  but  the  quantities  destroyed  were  scarcely  equal  to  more  than 
a  three  weeks'  supply,  and  are  now  being  rapidly  replaced. 

Not  more  than  10  per  cent  of  the  currency  was  destroyed  by  the  fire; 
we  have  30,000  houses  left  standing,  and  our  real-estate  could  not 
burn  up. 

A  careful  average  of  these  larger  items,  with  smaller  ones  that  need 
not  be  enumerated,  shows  that  the  city  of  Chicago  has  suffered  a  loss  of 
not  less  than  20.  nor  morj  than  25  per  cent,  on  her  total  assets — real 
and  personal.  The  loss  is  a  great  one;  but,  so  far  from  irretrievable, 
that  we  may  confidently  hope  to  see  a  return  to  former  prosperity  ere 
long.  The  ratio  of  increase  during  the  past  thirty. four  years  has  aver- 
aged roV  percent  per  annum.  This  rate  would  restore  the  status  of  a 
month  ago,  within  three  years.  Making  every  due  allowance  for  the 
terrible  set-back  experienceed,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  five  years 
hence,  at  most,  the  exhibit  of  population,  wealth,  commerce,  and  man- 
factures  will  be  greater  than  a  month  ago. 


THE  EXACT   AREA  OF  THE  CONFLAGRATION. 
\_From  The  Chicago   Journal.} 

CAREFUL  measurements  and  calculations  of  the  area  of  the  burnt  district 
of  the  city  place  its  length,  from  its  starting  point  to  its  place  of  ending, 
at  four  and  a  half  miles,  and  its  average  width  a  little  more  than  one 
mile.  Along  the  south  side  lake  shore,  however,  and  westward  five 
blocks,  Harrison  street  is  the  southern  limit  of  the  conflagration,  and 
the  distance  from  that  street  to  Fullerton  avenue,  its  northern  limit,  is 
only  three  and  a  half  miles.  The  point  of  the  fire's  beginning  on  the 
west  side  was  about  one  mile  south  of  I  larrison  street,  southwesterly. 
The  number  of  acres  laid  waste  is  not  far  from  2.300.  A  pretty  careful 
computation  places  the  number  of  buildings  of  all  kinds  destroyed  at 
18.000,  of  which  at  least  1.500  were  substantial  business  structures.  The 
actual  total  of  the  pecuniary  losses  is  estimated  at  three  hundred  million 
dollars,  but  no  fair  estimate  that  we  have  yet  seen  or  heard  of  places  the 
grand  total  below  two  hundred  million  dollars.  We  still  believe  the 
latter  will  cover  all  the  losses. 


THE    LOSSES    AND    THE    RESOURCES    OF 
THE   COMPANIES. 


IN  the  following  pages  we  present  a  list  of  all  the  joint-stock  fire  insur- 
ance companies  in  the  United  States,  except  a  few  unimportant  compa- 
nies in  the  southern  states.  The  list  does  not  include  the  small  mutual 
companies  which  are  confined  to  country  towns  and  a  limited  business 
mainly  of  farm-house  risks,  since  such  companies  are  not  to  be  counted 
upon  for  the  transaction  of  a  general  business.  The  list  also  contains 
a  complete  record  of  all  the  foreign  fire  insurance  companies  which 
transact  a  general  business  in  this  country. 

These  lists  have  been  carefully  compiled  from  official  sources,  and  the 
statement  of  assets  of  the  companies,  in  each  instance,  is  in  accordance 
with  the  returns  made  under  oath  to  the  heads  of  insurance  departments 
of  the  various  states,  and  by  those  officials  approved  as  correct,,  after  due 
examination. 

The  statements  of  losses  have  been  gathered  from  sources  equally  to 
be  relied  on.  We  have  been  especially  careful  to  secure  the  exact 
figures,  and,  so  far  as  given,  they  may  be  relied  on.  We  are  receiving 
fresh  information  hourly  from  our  office  in  Chicago  which  has  been 
re-opened  at  450  State  street,  and  shall  issue-  daily  editions  of  this  pub- 
lication until  the  record  is  complete. 

The  use  of  these  facts  and  figures  will  be  at  once  apparent  to  the  busi- 
ness man,  who  will  to-day  realize,  as  he  has  never  realized  before,  that 
without  reliable,  substantial  insurance,  his  house  is  indeed  but  built  upon 
loose  sand,  and  his  business  hangs  in  the  balance,  at  the  mercy  of  the 
merciless  element,  fire.  Without  insurance  no  business  man  in  this 
country  stands  upon  a  secure  footing.  Without  it  he  may  be  utterly  and 
hopelessly  ruined  in  an  hour.  The  present  emergency  will  doubtless 
prove  of  value  to  him  for  all  time  to  come,  in  that  it  impressess  upon 
him,  with  a  force  that  he  never  has  hitherto  felt,  the  necessity  and  the 
indispensableness  of  the  protection  afforded  by  insurance. 

In  this  terrible  emergency,  it  behooves  the  prudent  man  to  look 
to  it  without  a  moments  delay  that  his  property  is  placed"  be- 
yond the  possibility  of  loss.  The  information  we  give  herewith  will 
afford  an  intelligent  guide  as  to  the  course  he  shall  pursue,  and  the 


And  the   Chicago  Fire.  35 

companies  he  shall  trust  with  the  most  important  interests  he  has  in  the 
world. 

And  let  us  remind  the  public  that  it  is  now  no  time  to  haggle  about 
rates.  Rates  have  been  too  low,  and  the  mushroom  companies  which 
pushed  the  rate  below  the  point  of  safety  in  the  past  have  been  swept 
away.  The  public  must  not  expect  that  the  good  companies  which  have 
been  so  severely  tried  in  this  great  disaster,  will  longer  continue  to  stand 
between  new  and  irretrievable  loss,  for  a  premium  which  affords  a  pal- 
try margin.  They  must  be  remunerated  for  the  blow  which  has  been 
inflicted  upon  them,  and  the  public  must  expect  to  'pay  at  least  double 
the  rate  which  they  have  hitherto  paid,  if  they  expect  to  be  insured. 

And  now  one  word  in  behalf  of  the  companies.  Although  there  are 
a  limited  few  which  can  boast  of  a  heavy  capital,  past  experience  shows 
that  the  majority  are  to  be  relied  on  under  the  severest  strain.  The 
great  fire  of  '35,  which  swept  New  York,  the  Portland  disaster,  and  now 
the  calamity  of  Chicago,  prove  abundantly  their  elasticity  and  ability  to 
meet  the  heaviest  drain  upon  them.  There  is  no  financial  institution 
endowed  with  such  recuperative  energies;  and  they  meet  the  claims 
upon  them,  as  a  class,  with  the  most  decided  and  praiseworthy  prompt- 
ness. The  public  can  see  from  the  papers  as  they  are  daily  issued,  how 
nobly  the  fire  underwriters  of  this  country  are  meeting  the  present  crisis. 
And  we  submit  that  they  are  entitled  to  the  largest  degree  of  public 
confidence,  and  the  most  generous  public  support.  Let  no  one  try  to 
beat  down  the  rates  they  fix  upon  the  risks  offered  to  them.  Their  offices 
are  over-crowded,  their  hands  are  full.  They  will  demand  no  more  than 
they  are  justified  in  asking,  and  it  is  every  insurer's  duty  to  accept, with- 
out cavil,  the  advanced  rate,  which  the  severest  experience  has  rendered 
it  necessary_to  impose: 


The  Insurance   Companies 


NEW   YORK  COMPANIES. 


1 
1 

o 
1824 

1858 
1853 

1811 
1860 
1857 
1859 
1853 
1851 
1851 

1853 

1871 
1849 
1824 
1867 
J843 
1867 
1865 
1860 
1833 
1850 
iSS3 
1859 
1859 
1850 

1853 
1853 
1806 
1850 
'853 
1853 
1861 
1825 
1858 
1859 
1853 
1857 
1859 
1864 
1863 
1824 
1865 
1852 
1852 
•1864 
1867 

1853 
1856 
1825 
1857 
1859 
1864 
1852 
1824 
1858 
1787 
1856 
1836 
«853 
1833 
1852 
1821 
1870 
1853 
1857 
>SS3 

NAME, 

Office. 

Capital. 

Gross 

Assets, 
Jan.  I, 
1871. 

Losses. 

vEtna  
Adriatic  
Agricultural  
Albany  
Albany  City  
American  
American  Exchange.... 
Arctic  
Astor  
Atlantic  
Beekman  
Brewers  and  Maltsters.. 
Broadway  
Brooklyn,  L.  I  
Buffalo  City  
Buffalo  Fire  and  Marine- 
Buffalo  German  
Capital  City  

170  Broadway.. 
187  Broadway.. 
Watertovvn  
Albany  
Albany  
120  Broadway.. 
141  Broadway.. 
112  Broadway.  . 
104  Broadway.  . 
178  Broadway.. 
172  Broadway.. 
139  Broadway.  . 
158  Broadway.  . 
191  Broadway.  . 
Buffalo  
Buffalo  

$300,000 
200,000 

100,000 

150,000 
200,000 

200,000 

200,000 
250,000 
250,000 
300,000 

2OO.OOO 
200,000 

200,000 

153,000 

200,000 
304,222 
200,000 
200,000 
300,000 
210,000 
250,000 
300.000 
400,000}: 

2OO.OOO 

200,000 
500.000 
300,000 
300,000 

200,000 
200.000 
I5O,OOO 
IOOOOO 

204,000 
150,000 
150.000 

200,000 
2OO,OOO 
500,000 
200,000 
2OO.OOO 
200,000 
200,000 
I5O,OOO 
400,000 
200,000t 
IOO.OOO 

2,500,000 
150.000 
500,000 
200,000 

2OO.OOO 
500.000 
2OO.OOO 
2OO.O1O 
150.000 
280,000 
150.000 
300,000 
150,000 
200,000 
1,000.000 

500.000 

200,000 
2OO,OOO 
I5O,OOO 
200.000 

capital,  Oc 
>f  $100,000 

$442.709 
246,120 
550,848 
264,978 
397,646 
741,405 
277,350 
299,433 
405,571 
5S6,>79 
261,851 
220,000 
370,004 
345-444 
370-934 
473,577 
270,081 
293,766 
684,798 
460,069 
392,704 
45L332 
692,877! 
249,372 
306,002 
2,538.038 
398.986 
595,440 
266,409 
335-724 
183.959 
199,673 
359.961 
J  73,477 
226,269 
363,002 
250.892 
1,077,849 
57i,«23 
3-5-738 
429.872 
279,688 
260,135 
700.335 
235,242! 
171-496 
4,578,008 
214,241 
783-851 
251,186 
302,589 
1,329,476 
32i,745 
4n,i5S 
262,573 

304,079 
2H,75i 
551.402 
240.801 
384.902 

1,715-909 
1,407,788 
206.409 
704,684 
218,047 
460.002 
tober  23,  18 

$660.000* 
8.500 
Nothing. 
Nothing. 
800,000* 
30.000 
58,000 
Nothing. 
400.000* 
600.000* 
350,000* 
Nothing. 
Nothing. 
Nothing. 
600,000* 
625,000* 
5,000 
270.000* 
35000 
Nothing. 
Nothing. 
3.000 
450.000 
25,000 
5.000 
1,400,000 
61,000 
Nothing. 
Nothing. 
600,000* 
2,500 
Nothing. 
I5,ooo 
32,500 
5,000 
900,000* 
Nothing. 

233,14° 
13,000 
Nothing. 
10,000 
45-000 
Nothing. 
233-HO§ 
30,000 
Nothing. 
2,139.213 
Nothing. 

473,no 
24.000 
22.500 

546,9H 
550,000* 
42,500 
3  1,000 
Nothing. 
7.500 
450.000* 
32.000 
Nothing. 
1,500,000* 
1.250.000* 
Nothing. 
1,000.000 
22,500* 
37,000 
71.     *  Suspended. 

Buffalo  
Albany  
156  Broadway.  . 
in  Broadway.. 
156  Broadway.. 
161  Broadway.. 
Albany  
27  Wall  St.... 
157  Broadway.. 

City  
Clinton  
Columbia  
Commerce  

Commercial  

Corn  Exchange  
Eagle  

104  Broadway.  . 
71  Wall  St.... 
102  Broadway.  . 
130  Broadway.  . 
170  Broadway.. 
Meridian  
153  Broadway.. 
167  Broadway.. 
60  Wall  St.  ... 
152  Broadway.. 
141  Broadway.. 
175  B  road  way  .. 
Glens  Falls  
176  Broadway.. 
155  Broadway.  . 
187  Broadway.. 
ii  Wall  St.... 
120  Broadway.. 
4  Pine  St.... 

Empire   City  
Excelsior  
Exchange  
Farmers  Joint  Stock  
Firemens  
Firemens  Fund  
Firemens  Trust  
Fulton  
Gebhard  
Germania  
Glens  Falls  
Globe  

Guardian  
Hamilton  
Hanover  
I  loffman  

Holland  Purchase  
Home  
Hope  
Howard  
Ilumboldt  
Importers  and  Traders.. 
I  nternational  
Irving  
Jefferson  
Kings  County  

Batavia  
135  Broadway.. 
92  Broadway.. 
66  Wall  St... 
120  Broadway., 
i  oo  Broadway.  . 
113  Broadway.. 
157  Broadway., 
in  Broadway.  . 
S  Pine  St.... 
64  Wall  St.  ... 
165  B  road  way.. 
50  Wall  St.  ... 
158  Broadway.. 
48  Wall  St.  ... 
152  Broadway.  . 
68  Wall  St  
Third  Avenue.. 
37  Wall  St  
«  Wall  St.... 
48  Wall  St  
tion  of  $50.000  to 
ised  by  addition  ( 
ipital  intact. 

Knickerbocker  
Lafayette,  L.  I  
Lamar  
Lenox  
Long  Island  

Lorillard  
Manhattan  
Manufact'rs  &  Builders.  . 
Market  

Mechanics,  L.  I  

Mechanics  and  Traders. 
Assets  increased  by  add! 
•  Assets  and  capital  jncres 
i  Voted  to  continue  with  c 

And  the    Chicago  Fire. 

NEW  YORK  COMPANIES.—  Continued. 


37 


s 

i 

1852 
1850 

1854 
1857 
1853 
1838 

«S53 

38 
1833 
1832 
is$o 
1823 
i^.'j 

1851 
1853 
1851 
iSS3 
1853 
1855 
1853 
1857 
JSS3 

I-SS 

Is6< 
1851 
1853 
1858 
1824 
1  850 
1865 
183? 
1862 
1853 
186. 

NAME. 

Office. 

Capital. 

Gross 
As.<tfts, 
7<»i.  i, 
1871. 

Losses. 

Mercantile  
Merchants  
Metropolitan....*  

166  Broadway.. 
i^O  Broadway.. 
loS  Broadway.. 
1  68  Broadway.. 
05  Wall  St  
Si  Wall  St.... 
173  Broadway.  . 
124  B'y  *S  Pine 
Union  Springs. 
SS  Wall  St.... 
73  Wall   St.... 
11  Wall  St.... 
192  Broadway.. 

300.000 
200.000 

300,000 
150.000 

200.000 
2OO.OOO 
300,000 
300.000 
1OO.OOO 
210,000 
200,000 
1,000.000 
500,000 
350,000 
200.000 
2OO.OOO 
150.000 
150,000 
1,000.000 
200.000 
300.000 
2OO.OOO 
200,000 
1,000.000 
2OO.OOO 
200.000 
200.000 
2OO.OOO 
150,000 
150.000 
250,000 
400,000 
1OO.OOO 
200.000 
300.000 
250.000 
500,000 

373.309 
442.690 

3°9i434 

254.40* 
39i,|iS 
283.671 
433.638 
562.835 
201.864 
429,063 
303,278 
".304.567 
770,305 
467,436 
443-557 
303.493 
231.670 

295-7*4 
i,Sqo.oio 
310.908 
683.478 
252-452 
343.o§4 
1,880.333 
372,707 
300.441 
247.027 
303.649 
222,572 
425.181 
437.259 
774.1" 
i7'.754 
4^5.314 
582,547 
539-692 
808,933 

1  12.000 
10,000 
Nothing. 
Nothing. 
Nothing. 
37-500 
570.000 
Nothing. 
Nothing. 
Nothing. 
15,000 
333-  '40 
720.000* 
Nothing. 
12.500 
Nothing. 
Nothing. 
Nothing. 
350.000 
40,000 
208,140 
109.927 
Nothing. 
1.500,000* 
Nothing. 
Nothing. 
7-500 
Nothing. 
Nothing. 
25.000 
Nothing. 
900,000* 
Nothing. 
Nothing'. 
,  750,000* 
60,000 
700,000* 

New  Amsterdam  

New  York  Equitable.... 
New  York  Fire  
Niagara  
North  American  

Pacific  
Park  
Peoples  

470  Broadway.. 
237  Broadway.  . 
175  Broadway.. 
9th  St.  ft  td  Ave 

^Relief.  
Republic  
Resolute  

149  Broadway.. 
153  Broadway.. 
151  Broadway.. 
iSo  Chatham  St 
119  Broadway.. 
117  Broadway.. 
161  Broadway.  . 
155  Broadway.. 
200  Broadway.. 
166  Broadway.. 
168  Broadway.. 
106  Broadway.. 
172  Broadway.. 
\Vatertown  
NewRochelle.. 
Hull  ilo  
165  Broadway.  . 
176  Broadway.. 

Security  
Standard  
Star  
Sterling  
Stuyvesani  
St.  "Nicholas  

United  States  
Washington  
\Vatr  rti  iv.  11  
\Vestchester  
Western,  of  Buffalo  
Williamsburgh  Citv  
Yonkers  and  New  Vork. 

MISSOURI    COMPANIES. 


1853  American  Central  

St.  Louis  
K 

$231.370 
105.225 
106,530 
'9-3'9 
'75.000 
40.660 
73.0S7 
100,900 
55-500 
125,000 
63.850 

101.373 
51.884 
160,000 
150,000 
60.636 
111,201 
134,050 
2J.OOO 

ioSo<;o 
64.000 
240.000 
109.820 
100,000 
170,000 

(i 

ii 



11 

ii 

St.  Joseph  
St.  Louis  
Lexington  

1865  Jefferson  
1869  Lafayette  

1851  Lumbermen  &  Mechanics 

1866  Merchants'  
186;')  National  
1867  North  Missouri  

St.  Joseph  
I  laiinili.il  

Macon  

1868]  St.  Joseph  
i837|St.  Louis  
1865  State  
1837  Union  
ifes  United  States... 

St.  Joseph  
St.  'Louis  
Hannibal  
St.  Louis  

t  Stockholders  assessed  to  pay  these  losses. 


$254,875 

27'''-575t 

'S38 

25.000 

27.500 

21,808 

17.500 

271.373 

35000 

43*90 

25.000 

19.815 

15.000 

109.701 

Nothing. 

70.673 

Nothing. 

'50-793 
66,061 

75,000* 
5.000 

121.842 

15.000 

56.489 

Nothing. 

200,400 

Nothing. 

210.925 

10.000 

79&I 

10.000 

'47,738 

10,000 

154,166 

21.500 

36-835 

10,000 

136,654 

10.000 

105,729 

15.000 

307-343 

20,000 

162.009 

21,500 

"07,575 

Nothiirr. 

«S4,279 

Nothing. 

*  Suspended. 

O     M 

» 

H 
O 

>  3 

OS      ^ 
CO 


§ 

O 


-     p 

(— '  ~ 

P°  3' 


O 
O 


00 


The  Insurance    Companies 


MASSACHUSETTS  COMPANIES. 


Organiied. 

Name. 

Office. 

Cafh 
Capital. 

Gross 
Assets, 
Jan.  i, 
1871. 

Losses. 

1818 
1860 
J8S3 
1824 
1825 
1850 
1851 
1845 
1870 
1831 

1823 
1870 

1870 
1822 
1823 
1817 
1869 
1832 
1831 
'839 
1851 

1856 
1857 
i855 
1851 
1859 

1824 
1868 

1865 

1831 
1852 
1864 
i860 
1868 
1851 
1859 
'799 

$300,000 
104,800 
30,000 
300,000 
300,000 
200.000 
300,000 
50.000 
100,000 
300,000 

100,000 

300,000 
100,000 
300,000 
200,000 
300,000 
250,000 
400,000 
300,000 
500,000 
200,000 
300.000 
300,000 

200,000 

200,000 
400,000 

200,000 
100,000 
2OO.OOO 

500,000 
150,000 
100,000 
200,000 
300,000 

:KY. 

$150,000 

100,000 
IOO.OOO 

300,000 
500,000 

200,000 
100,000 

100,000 
IOO.OOO 

100,000 
250,000 

5LAND. 
$200,000 

200,030 

50.000 

200,000 

150,000 

20O.OOO 

500,000 

2OO.OOO 
20O.ODO 

$844,481 
196.275 

41.831 
678,740 

933,256 
399,427 

672,212 

42,129 

1  1  1  ,092 
'j57'356 

541,908 
118,751 
419.211 
358,642 

646,048 
262,502 
1,480.464 

594,299 
958.559 
254.092 
821,840 

852,195 
1,080,073 
601,747 

887,756 

452,660 
197,940 

549,806 

9-50,101 

283,288 
192,401 
294-543 
985,975 

$163,543 
115,000 

110,000 
300,000 

500.000 
250.000 

100,000 

211.000 
100,000 

125,000 
250,000 

$374.969 
326,614 
72,150 
272.169 
311,673 
372,199 
792,947 
415.149 

278.0'XJ 

Nothing'. 
5,000 
Nothing 
Nothing. 
13.000 
15,000 
12,500 
Nothing. 
,     Nothing. 
35,000 
2,500 
50,000 
Nothing 
720,000* 
27.500 
1,100,000* 
10,000 
120,000 
Nothing. 
10,000 
Nothing. 
400,000! 
60,000 
i  ,000,000* 

10,000 

335,000 
Nothing. 
Nothing. 
25,000 
45o.ooof 
23,000 
Nothing. 
70,000 
25,000 

6,Soo 

Bay  State  
Beverly  

Worcester  
Beverly  

u 

Eliot 

K 

11 

u 

H 

u 

11 

u 

II 

Mutual  Benefit  

1 

1 

I 

New  England  Mutual  M. 

( 

1 

Peoples  

Shoeand  Leather  Dealers 
Springfield  
Suffolk    

Boston  
Springfield  

Traders  and  Mechanics.. 

Lowell  

KENTU( 
Aurora  Covington  

Franklin  

German  Bk.  &  Ins.  Co.U 
German  Ins.  &  Banking 
Co.1T  

Louisville  

(4 

German    Security    Bank 
&  Ins.  Coir  

M 

Kenton  

Louisville  Ins.  &  Bank- 
ing Co.  IT  

Covington  .... 
Louisville  

"        .'.'.'.'.'. 
RHODE   I 
Providence  .  .  .  , 

West'n  Ins.&  B'k'gCo.U 
American  

600,000* 

325.000* 
7.500 
Nothing. 
325,000* 
15,000 
25.000 
550.000* 

22C.OOO* 

City  

Providence  Washington. 

II  Doing  principally  a  banking  business. 

t  Voted  to  continue  business  with  capital  intact. 


Suspended. 


And  the  Chicago  Fire. 


39 


OHIO  COMPANIES. 


\ 
i 

o 

Warn/. 

Office. 

Cask 
Capital. 

Gross 
Asset  f, 
7a*.  i, 
1871. 

Losses. 

1870 
1850 
1870 
1866 

!pj 

i& 

lS;s 
Ip 

1851 
1867 
1850 
1  866 
1865 

1868 

iStf 
'859 

*7 

:*M 

1859 

iSf>; 
iSris 

IS'-.' 
186S 
'854 
IS7I 

!*''- 
1838 

»8.i7 
1863 
1854 
1851 
1866 
2865 
1863 
1865 
1865 
1865 
1865 
1865 
1836 
'859 

l!Si 

Alemannia  
American  

Cleveland  
Cincinnati  

Hamilton  

9250,000 

100.000 
1  ,000,000 

60,000 
14,000 
60,000 

40,000 

30,833 

150,000 
5».5oo 
4  '4.400 
100,000 
210,210 
23,800 
100,000 
37,35o 
«93-4°o 
36,435 
23-360 

100,000 

32.000 
100,000 
100,000 
100,000 
100,000 
70,000 
200.000 
22,500 
100,000 
45,000 
100.000 

17,500 

2OO.OOO 

500,000 
60,000 
43-.',93 
150,000 
100,000 
26,100 
90,000 
100,000 
40,000 
35,383 
50.760 
20,000 
200.000 
200.000 
25,000 
1  00,000 
75,000 
100,000 
129,100 

100,000 

*  385.555 
135,5'3 
1,203.425 

75,369 
22,322 
78.000 
55-541 
29,896 
109,2*3 
67,690 
530,208 
158.987 
349,624 
33,537 
128.604 
46.667 
$02.922 
67,607 

34,143 

131,626 
SS-770 
'33,366 
»25,6oo 
126,893 

i$ 

181,260 
28,347 
127,858 
54,500 

178,143 
41,620 
225,000 
637,947 
76.335 
60,632 
266,780 
141,004 

5M33 
90,249 
120.514 
49,092 
54-Sig 

7°'oai 
4S-93S 

301,340 
337,016 
46.573 
108.343 
105.837 
•30-845 
MS,747 
1/8.550 

508.100 
12,500 
S5o,ooof 
3,500 

Butler  
Capital  City  

Central  

Cincinnati  

Cincinnati  

Cleveland  
Cincinnati  
Cleveland  

50.000 
18,000 
700,000* 
13,000 
400,000* 

Cleveland  
Commercial  
Commercial  Mutual  

Eagle  

Cincinnati  

M 

« 

Nothing. 
2.500 
Nothing. 
Nothing. 
10,000 

« 

Telloway  
Dayton  
Hamilton  
Cincinnati 
Dayton  
Cincinnati  .  ... 
Columbus  

Farmers  
Farmers  and  Merchants.  . 
Farmers,  Mer.  &  Mfctrs.  . 
Firemens  
Kiremens  

29,500 

65,000 

Franklin  

700,000* 

!i  nn  .1  n  i  .1  

Cincinnati  
Toledo  ... 

3.500 
7.000 
40,000 

jlobe  Cincinnati  

rlibernia  Cleveland  

360,000* 
300,000! 

Home  Tolrrlo  

efferson  

Merchants  and  Manufrs.. 

Steubcnville.... 
Cincinnati  

Dayton  
Toledo  
Cincinnati  
Chillicothe  
Dayton  
Cincinnati  

Cleveland  

Dayton  
Cincinnati  
Toledo  

14,500 
15.000 

Miami  Valley  
Mutual  
National  
Ohio  
Ohio  
Ohio  Valley  

3,000 
3,000 

32.000 

3,488 
>7S-ooo§ 
1,000.000* 

Sun  

Teutonia  

Nothing. 

Union  

Cincinnati  

37,500 

21,000 

31,000 

CALIFORNIA  COMPANIES. 


San  Francisco.  . 

« 

M 

II 

MICHIG 
Detroit  

$  300,000 
500.000 
003,600 
300,000 

I  ,<kC>.'KlO 
300,000 
750,000 

AN. 

$150.000 
150.000 

100,000 

$  406.824 
799,627 
657.343 
474.095 
1.777,267 

500.000 
M'S,574 

$»73,o63 

206.12) 

'SM77 

Nothing. 
3oo.oooJ 
Nothing. 
300,000$ 
1  ,900,000* 
400,000 
Soo,ooot 

175.000$ 
Nothing. 
Nothing. 

1863  Pacific  M  

iS66;Detroit  Fire  &  Marine.. 
1864!  Michigan  State  ........ 

1867  State  

Lansing  

t  Stockholders  assessed  for  $500,000. 


{  Stockholders  assessed  for  $120,000. 


The  Insurance  Companies 


ILLINOIS. 


Organised. 

Name. 

Office, 

Cash 
Capital. 

Gross 
Assets, 
Jan.  i, 
1871. 

Losses. 

1859 
1865 
1861 

1855 
1865 
1863 

1857 

»sss 
1866 

1859 

1866 
1870 
1868 
1837 
1870 
1863 
1864 
1865 
1867 
1868 

$150.000 
100,000 
101,800 
200,000 
iSo.ooo 
100,000 
100,000 
150.000 
101,000 
132,900 
200.000 
322.831 

200,000 
113,000 
l6o,OOO 
500,000 
118,325 
998,200 
IOO,OOO 
425,000 

$  548,875 
220,471 
131,566 
372-544 
266.535 
120.191 
191,303 
181,489 
119,824 

158,051 
257,821 

2741125 
245,338 
350,016 
170.129 
878,252 

145,584 
1,132,812 
23S-442 
460,000 

1,000 
300.000 

3,000,000* 
3,000,000* 
3,000,000* 
3,000  ooo* 

Chicago   Fire  

Chicago  

ii 

14 

Freeport  

2,000,000* 

German  

German  Ins.  &  Sav's  Co. 
Germania  

Freeport  

Chicago  

1,500,000* 

2  27  .OOOf 

2,000,000* 

1,100,000* 

750.000* 
6,000.000* 
1,800,000* 
3,500,000* 

i< 

Illinois  Mutual  
Knickerbocker  

Alton  
Chicago  

<t 

a 

Rockford  
State  

Rockford  
Chicago  

3,000,000* 

MARYLAND   COMPANIES. 


iSsSlAmerican  

1847  Associated  Firemens  

Baltimore  

i 
c 

$125,000 
203,500 
200,000 
378,000 

IOO.OOO 

150,000 

IOO.OOO 
2OO.OOO 

200,000 

131.500 

250.000 
200,000 
100,000 
125,000 

IOO.OOO 

75-651 

100,000 
100,000 

$147,605 
281,882 
466.882 
529,292 
63.034 

251,000 

125.555 
259,360 
251.157 
235.211 
324.208 
286,405 
224,000 

100.388 
113-094 
97.209 
164.986 
121,804 

Nothing. 
Nothing. 
Nothing. 
Nothing 
Nothing. 
Nothing. 
Nothing. 
Nothing. 
12.000 
Nothing. 
290.000* 
Nothing. 
33-165 
10,000 
17,000 

IO.OOO 

25,000 

;'    :::::: 

i 
i 

i 

1864  Merchants  and  Mechanics 

iS6c  Washington.... 

CONNECTICUT. 


1819 

,856 
1847 
1850 
1870 

1810 

1857 

:g 
;& 

^Etna  
City  

Hartford  

Charter  Oak  

« 

Norwalk  
Hartford  

i> 

Fairfield  County  
Hartford  

Norwich  
Phoenix  

Norwich  
Hartford  

$3,000,000 

$5,782.635 

$3,000,000 

250.000 

•554,287 

650,000* 

150,000 

251.951 

400.000* 

200,000 

405.060 

600.000* 

200.000 

216,358 

25.000 

I,  COO  COO 

2,737-5"  9 

1,500.000 

20O.OOO 

540.096 

1.000.000* 

300.000 

456,50* 

800.000* 

300.000 

381.736 

350.000* 

600.000 

1,717.947 

Soo.ooo 

500,000 

785,783 

1,350,000* 

MAINE. 


1869!  Eastern  .. 
1870!  National.. 
18621  Union  .... 


Bangor . . . 


$150.000 
200.000 
200,000 


t  Stockholders  assessed  for  $237,600. 


$237,648 
241.308 
421,205 


7.500 

17.500 

5.000 

*  Suspended. 


Anil  the  Chicago  Fire. 


>YLVAMA. 


1 

1 

1857 

1870 
1810 

i  Sao 
1832 

1829 

i8S3 

1794 
'794 

1868 
1840 

1835 

1841 
.835 

.804 

Name. 

Offict. 

Cash 

Capital. 

Gross 
Assfts. 

y<7».  i, 

1871. 

Losses. 

Allegheny  ... 

Pittsburg  

Philadelphia.... 
Frie  

50.000 
50,000 

350.000 
400.000 
64,000 
3,ooo 
125.000 

100.000 

100,000 



3.500 
i5-5oo 

Anthracite  

344.007 

a6S.524 
1,047,612 

185,000 
Notliing. 

A  merican  
Artiziins  
Ben.  Franklin  
Hoatmens  
C:ish  

Philadelphia... 
l'itt>-l>urg  
Allegheny  .... 
Pilt.-lmrg  

18,000 



17.500 
Nothing. 
Nothing. 
325,000* 

350.000 
1,821,162 
611,654 

Delaware  Mutual  Safety. 

Philadelphia.  .. 
Pittsburg  .... 

360.000 

200.000 

Philndelphia  ... 
Allegheny  .... 
Philadelphia... 

175.000 

2OO.OOO 
20.00O 
500,000 

221,645 
i>705.3'9 

18.000 
35,000 
7.500 

Fame  
Federal  
Fire  Association  
Fire  Ins.  Co.  oftheC'ntry 

u 

« 
Erie  

400.000 
200,000 
50,000 

3,087,453 
216,482 

500.000 
Nothing. 

German  

Pittsburg  

Germantown  Mutual.... 

u 

II 

11 

aOO.OOO 

500.000 
3OO,OOO 

403,062 

3,050.536 
542,908 

13,000 

Ins.  Co.  of  N.  America. 
Ins.  Co.  State  of  Penn  .  .  . 

500,000 
25,000 

Keystone  
Lancaster  

Heading  
Lancaster  

300.OOO 

Mutual. 
135,000 

185,092 
350-349 

34,000 
500.000 
6,000 

Manufac'rs  &  Merchants 
Manufacturers  Mutual.. 

Pittsburg  .... 

Philadelphia 

140,000 

1  2.  COO 

National  
Pennsylvania  

Allegheny  .... 
Philadelphia... 
Pittsburg  

50,000 
400.000 
115.800 

200,000 
76.OOO 
IOO,OOO 

I5O.OOO 
300,000 

1,094,004 
128,852 

Nothing. 

Pittsburg  

Philadelphia.  .. 
Heading  
Philadelphia... 

177.503 
.      422.362 

705-3S9 

10,000 
Nothing. 

Phila.  Contributionship. 
Rending  Fire  
Reliance  

Teuton  ia  

« 

« 

Western  

\Villi;imsport  Fire  
\Vvom  inir... 

Pittsburg  
Williamspnrt  .  . 
\Vilkesbarrc.... 

08,000 
100,000 

5.000 

Nothing. 

1  10,500 

FOREIGN  COMPANIES. 

This  list  of  the  foreign  companies  doing  business  in  the  United  States  gives  the  whole 
assets  of  the  companies.  All  of  them  except  the  Imperial  do  a  life  insurance  businc**, 
and  the  largest  portion  of  their  assets  is  credited  to  that  department. 


1861  Commercial  Union 

1803!  Imperial 

1836  Liv'rp'l  &  Lon.  and  Globe 
1823  \.  British  &  Mercantile.. 

1857  Queen 

1845  Royal 

f  Exclusive  of  premium  note  assets  assessed 


$1,350.000 
3.500,000 
1458,760 
1,350,000 
955,S6o 
'.444,475 


$4,000.000  - 


30,136.420 


2,347-495 
9,274-776 


zj  per  cent. 


65,000 

150.000 

3,500.000 

2.i  OO.OOO 

Nothing. 

98,000 

*  Suspended. 


The  Insurance   Companies 


LOUISIANA  COMPANIES. 


5 
_£ 

1866 
1849 
1866 
1871 
1866 
1866 
1871 
1871 
1851 

«857 
1871 

1854 
1854 
1869 
1859 
1870 
1871 
1871 
'855 
1871 
ISC7 

Name. 

Office. 

Cask 
Capital. 

Gross 

Assets, 
Jan.  i, 
1871. 

Losses. 

Atlantic  

New  Orleans... 

$232,109 
908,662 

39M34 
300,000 
1,040,576 
370,46i 

780,827 
320,762 

SI'MSS 
1,002,134 

566,405 
802,742 

433,779 

$10,000 
Nothing. 
Nothing. 
10,000 
10,000 
5.000 
Nothing. 

JO,COO 

Nothing. 
Nothing. 
10,000 

10.000 

Nothing. 
Nothing. 
10,000 
Nothing. 
Nothing. 
Nothing. 
Nothing. 
10,000 
Nothing-. 

Delta                 

Factors  and  Traders.  .  .  . 

Great  Western  

Mechanics  and  Traders. 

New  Orleans  Ins.  Ass'n. 

Salamander  

Sun  

774.061 
2S6,vx) 

Union... 

NEW  JERSEY  COMPANIES. 


1871 
1842 

1857 
1858 

1858 

1866 
1870 
1869 

1868 
1866 
1866 
1866 
1867 

J868 
1869 

'3S4 
1870 

Newark  

200,000 
170,401 
200,000 

150,000 

200,000 

Q59:SSS 
5i7,i74 

250,000 

227-583 
400,000 

6,000 
15,000 
Nothing. 
Nothing. 
3,000 
Nothing. 
Nothing. 
5,000 
5,000 
2,500 
Nothing. 

$3,000 
8,333 
5.000 
3',  834 

Vi',833 
5,«» 

5,000 

First  National  

Jersey  City  

Newark  
Jersey  City  
Newark  

Humboldt  
Jersey  City  
Merchants  Mutual  

a 

u 

State  
WE 
JEtna.  

Jersey  City  
ST  VIRGINIA 

Wheeling  
;         

175,000 

COM  PA 

$100,000 

100.000 

100,000 
150,000 
100,000 

2OO.OOO 

125,000 

100,000 

165,000 
)MPANII 

N'lES. 

:s. 

$200,000 
50,000 
250,0x1 
122,400 

210,000 

250,000 
150,000 
200,000 

|  $183,681 
1     191,202 

$344,164 
$280,593 
$:34.586 

< 
< 
Parkersburg.  .. 
Wheeling  
ALABAMA  CC 
Mobile  

State  

West  Virginia  

Citizens  Mutual  
Factors  and  Traders.  .  .  . 
Gulf  City  

(C 

$100,000 
80,000 

Mobile  Fire  Department. 

M 

« 

Planters  and  Merchants. 

(1 

250,000 
150,000 
200,000 
fSlN. 
$164,175 
150,000 
OMPAN\ 
$200,000 
OTA. 
$120,000 
PSHIRE. 
$100,000 

(j 

U 

Brewers'  Protective  .... 
Northwestern  National.  . 

WISCO1 

Milwaukee 

GEORGIA  C 
Columbus  
MINNES 
St  Paul  

2OO,OOO 

90,000 

St.  Paul  Fire  and  Marine 

New  Hampshire  Fire.... 
t  Stockholders  assessed  to 

ioo,ooot 

Nothing. 
*  Suspended. 

NEW  HAM 
Manchester  .... 
repair  deficient 

And  the    Chicago   Fire 


43 


SUMMARY : 

THE  FOLLOWING  TABLE  SHOWS  THE  AGGREGATE  Loss  OF  THE  COM- 
PANIES BY  STATES,  THE  NUMBER  OF  COMPANIES  IN  EACH  STATE, 
THE  NUMBER  SUSPENDED  AND  ASSESSED,  AND  THE  NUMBER  TIIVl 
WERE  NOT  AFFECTED  BY  THE  FlRE  : 


Slate. 

v| 

«i 

Afgrtfatt 
Capital. 

Total  Gross 
Assets. 

Total 
Losses. 

No. 
Suspended. 

No. 
Assessed. 

i1 

New  York... 

JUo.ifii.au 

*c«.67c  ico 

Ohio  

;  300.90 

Massachusetts  

•<  OS  \   N  «  < 

]S    VS,  >    -•',- 

cc 

6.225.800 

17,106,180 

2C 

J  '•-•»  ;   •;  : 

s 

4.  t>  ;  '  '^'> 

6,461,268 

iS 

-  "s-.'-^i 

4.1  l*,O7J 

;•  ~  i"; 

10 

6  700  ooo 

I  t.Sao.S&i 

3  224.  C4t 

6,Soo 

Rhode  Island  

3116810 

t  7s  I  600 

5,7^0,630 

a 

i  •       .  ' 

(«>  i    I'll 

i  -  r  i  .  *•> 

a 

c;o  OOO 

114.17? 

:-  i   Sv  . 

39O,OOO 

.'N->  ;o  ; 

New  Hampshire  
Georgia  

I 

I 

IOO,OOO 

J34tSS6 
344,164 

i 

Alabama  

8 

780,000 

1,432,400 

s 

West  Virginia  

1,140,000 

7O,OOO 

3 

Louisiana  

21 

8,6aa1$o6 

8>.ooo 

13 

New  Jersey  

12 

I,J95,OOO 

3,661,835 

46,500 

Total  of  U.  States.... 

4°7 
6 

*79-59S<3»« 
io.4Co.oo; 

$153,863  ,01  a 

$87,069,849 

c  Sn.ooo 

'* 

" 

'3* 

I 

tlr.nicl  Totnl  

4«3 

$T>.o5  ,.|," 

$92,882.849 

& 

a$ 

1.55 

THE   HARTFORD   COMPANIES. 
[From  The  Hartford  Courant.] 

The  aggregate  capital  of  the  Hartford  fire  insurance  companies  is 
$6,100,000.  Its  market  value  last  week  w.is  $12,894,000.  The  total  a-- 
sets  last  New  Year's  clay  were  $13,287.865,  and  when  the  Chicago  fire 
broke  out  the  total  was  doubtless  at  least  fourteen  million.  The  total 
income  in  1870  was  $9,237,821.  The  market  value  indicated  the  confi- 
dent expectation  of  stockholders  and  the  market  that  not  less  than  ten 
per  cent  on  that  market  value,  or  over  a  million  and  a  quarter  annually, 
might  be  expected  in  dividends. 

Several  millions  are  going  directly  from  Hartford  to  Chicago.  The 
depreciation  in  the  present  market  values  of  the  stocks  will  doubtless  be 
many  millions.  It  is  a  terrible  loss,  but  there  is  lite-vise  a  grand  oppor- 
tunity, the  best  of  forty  years  past  or  of  a  generation  to  come,  to  put  our 


44  The    Insurance    Companies 

insurance  business  upon  a  greatly  honorable  and  a  greatly  profitable 
basis. 

Let  us  take  the  oldest  company,  the  Hartford,  for  illustration.  It  will 
meet  all  its  obligations  without  impairing  its  capital,  and  doubtless 
with  a  large  share  of  its  surplus  left.  But  suppose  it  has  lost  not  alone 
its  surplus  of  nearly  two  millions,  but  its  capital  of  a  million  also. 
There  could  be  no  better  investment  for  its  stockholders  than  to  con- 
sider themselves  organizing  anew,  and  to  take  from  their  pockets 
another  million  for  new  capital,  in  order  to  keep  the  old  name  going. 
And  the}'  could  afford  to  pay  a  million  for  the  franchise  at  that.  The 
same  can  be  said  of  any  Hartford  company  with  an  established  repu- 
tation and  a  good  set  of  officers. 

This  is  the  era  of  new  departures  and  there  is  clearly  to  be  a  new  de- 
parture in  the  business  of  insurance.  There  will  be  certain  great  advan- 
tages over  the  past. 

1.  There  will  be  less  competition  on  the  part  of  inferior  complies 
pursuing  a  weak  and  narrow  minded  policy  of  very  low  rates.     Many 
such  companies,  especially  in  the  west,  have  ended  their  course. 

2.  Rates  will   necessarily  advance,  and  with  the  cheerful  consent  o 
the  insured.     Hereafter  people  will  willingly  pay  companies  that  pass 
this  ordeal  not  only  for  the  pleasure  of  holding  a  policy,  but  something 
for  the  solid  assurance  of  being  really  protected.     Short-sighted  men 
will  grumble  less  at  "bloated  monopolies"  after  having  felt  the  value  of 
a  great  surplus  rolled  up  for  a  day  of  need. 

3.  Chicago,  and  other  cities  as  well,  have  learned  an  awful  lesson, 
and  there  will  be  greater  care  in  rebuilding,  aided  by  stricter  local  legis- 
lation and  more  watchful  supervision.     The  hazard  will  be  reduced. 

4.  Much  of  the  nonsensical  and  wicked  jealousy  of  "foreign  compa- 
nies," as  those  of  sister  states  are  called,  will  pass  away,  and  with  it  will 
go  the  hostile  legislation  so  directly  at  war  with  sound  economical  prin- 
ciples and  the  true  spirit  of  unity. 


And  the   Chicago  Pi  re. 


THE 

DO  YOU  TAKE  IT? 

DO  YOU  READ  IT? 

FOREMOST  INSURANCE  JOURNAL 

AN  AMERICAN  REVIEW  OF  INSURANCE. 

Published    Monthly    in    New   York    and  Chicago. 


The  Largest, 

The  Most  Influential, 

The  Most   Interesting, 

The  Best. 

ABL  T EDITED,  HANDSOMEL  T  PRINTED,  AND 
INDEPENDENT. 


az 


o 
p 

CO 


Success  O/THE  SPECTATOR 
has  been  unexampled  in  the  his- 
tory of  journalism.  The  first  num- 
ber "i'tts  issued  in  January,  1868, 
and  consisted  of  »6  pages.  Its 
present  si:e  is  100  faffcs,  and  its 
circulation  is  larger  than  that  of 
all  other  insurance  periodicals. 


CO 
O 

o 


-3    30 

I  > 

5"  32 
2Z 
G 


No  AGENT  CAN  AFFORD  TO  BE  WITHOUT  THE  SPECTATOR. 


AGRICULTURAL  INSURANCE  COMPANY, 

OF    WATERTOWN.   N.  Y. 

V?  '.M-J. 

//  Ji'J  not  lose  out  dollar  in  Ikt  Chicago  Firt\    It  never  lost  uver  $4,000  I'M  any  one  Fire. 


ADVANTAGES   THAT    IT   OFFERS. 

It  iv  confined  hy  its  charter  to  insure  nothing;  inun-  h.i/ardnus  than  residences  and 
farm  property 

It  pays  all  loss  ca  .  li^htnini;  wlu-thfr  tin-  rnsurs  or  not . 

It   affords  a   Rrtr.r 
dwellings  from  10  t  •  !nwi-r  th.ui  companies  il 

Id,    :ind    other   lia/arilons 

property,  ami  i    I)wrllinj;s.  it   is  not   -uhji-ct  to 

-si-s.  and  a:1  lO  tlio-i-  it 

Its  dividend*  an  :^  iinr-tini'iits.     All  pn-iniuin* 

are  restT\c>l  in  prut.  .niulatod  at  .1 

|>5O,OOO  a  vr. u.  anil  will  l>r  hrld  from   \  us   making  thr  Coinpanv   urmv  sironj; 

*s  it  grows  old. 

urt-pini;  tires,  because  its  risks  are  a 

It  has  no  losses  due  unp 

The  officers  are  all  practical  insurance  m  >ver  16  years'  experience  in  thr 

business. 

ORGANIZED  1853. 


I'l  \   t  M  I  I  I     s/   I  /  /    >/  /   N  /    ••/     /  /// 

Agricultural  Insurance  Company,  Watertown,  N,  Y, 


First  Lien  Mort(ra>;eK  on  Real  Estate $.17 

..   o  .. 


U.  S.  J-JO  RcKi-ti-rrd  Honds 102,850.00 

Canada  Dominion  Boodi i 

I. o.i us  on   <   .  80,^90.49 


.............  .............  lS.OOO.OO 

I   iirniture,  Ac  .....................  .  ..i.OOO.On 

Casli  in  Hank  anil  Vault  ..............  ...................... 

Uncnllecti'd  I'rfiiiiuins.  secured  by  A^.  ..........  .jj.  118.09 

N-  •  71  .......................  --,.1111,11 

Unuary  ist.  .  .  .$545,508.57 

Increase  in  .  Nun-  Montiis   .  ....     89,683.55 

The  following  table  tkotvf  tlir  •  frotfrnt  of  the  Company  tintt  1865  : 

1866,  January  i-t.  t: 
iS/^;.         '• 

.V.s. 
IS/M, 
1870, 


1871,  Nine  Months.  •     '  '  , 

The  Company  kat  paid  in  losses  *inc,-  its  Organiiation  . 

if  Hi 

.  Stcxl, 


For  Dwelling  Houses  &  Furniture. 
NO  LOSSES  IN  CHICAGO! 


ATERTOWN  FIRE  INS.  CO, 


|  OF  WATERTOWN,  NEW  YORK.  I 

™^^^^"^^^^^^^™^^^^^^™^^^™^"™™""'"™™i 

CASH  CAPITAL,       ....     $200,000.00 
CASH  SURPLUS,  Oct.  20,  1871,     .  120,576.14 

TOTAL  CASH  ASSETS,  .         .       320,576.14 

Hon.  Norris  Winslow,  Pres't. 

Jesse  M.  Adams,  Sec'y. 

C.  H.  Waite,  Gen'l  Agent. 

This  Company  is  confined  by  its  Charter  to  risks 
not  more  hazardous  than  Dwelling'  Houses. 

AGENCIES    SOLICITED 

In  places  where  the  Company  is  not  now  represented, 

in  the  States  of  NEW  YORK,  MICHIGAN,  OHIO, 

MASSACHUSETTS  and  RHODE  ISLAND. 


